


Wait, am I going to die?

by DashingLuna



Series: The Fates Rewrite [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alive Bianca di Angelo, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bianca deserves better than this, Bianca is gay as shit, Bianca just wants to nap man, Book 5: The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson), Character Death, Coming Out, F/F, F/M, Gen, Hades needs to get his act up, Lee Fletcher is fun to write, M/M, Persephone is really trying, Time Travel, rebirth is a thing and used a lot, this shit is now officially trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 82,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26710840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashingLuna/pseuds/DashingLuna
Summary: Bianca died, except she didn't. Percy feels like he's doing things for a second time. Silena must understand who she once was to move foreword to what she'll be. And secrets are revealed in the worst way possible.Or, Everybody has crushes and tries to deal with them while being hormonal teenagers, with a war going on at the same time.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Bianca di Angelo & Nico di Angelo, Bianca di Angelo & Percy Jackson, Bianca di Angelo/Piper McLean, Calypso/Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Silena Beauregard/Clarisse La Rue
Series: The Fates Rewrite [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1834627
Comments: 100
Kudos: 140





	1. Prologue

Silena hated dreams.

She always had, ever since Kronos had first popped into her dreams with his creepy voice and disgusting smile, she’d hated dreams. Though it had become worse once she started dating Beckendorf.

The night she did, heck, even the _moment_ she gave up on Clarisse it felt like something inside her heart screamed and she couldn’t figure out why.

She was pretty sure it was related to the dreams she was having.

Those goddamn dreams. Either this was the god of dreams way of punishing her for leaving Kronos (highly unlikely) or it was something much much worse.

Silena hated it.

It’s not like she got demigod dreams, not anymore anyway.

They weren’t useful, they weren’t the fates giving information that would be used in the war. This was personal. Which honestly _sucked_. It was pathetic how much she would have given for just one normal demigod dream.

And yet Silena’s eyes slowly shut. As her dreams drifted to a life she would never have (again, never again but god's almighty did she miss it. From his sweet and tender touch, to the way he said her name as if a gift from the heavens).

0-0-0

Patroclus was a medic. Not a warrior.

His skills laid not in battle but in the tent, saving more lives than slaughtering, and yet here he was the one leading an army.

(He was the one dying, he was the one feeling the pain of death and having his final thoughts, he was the one dying a cold and sorrowful sacrifice)

Patroclus was a healer.

And yet, he died in battle.

Achilles’s broken sobs raking down his body as he clutched Patroclus, begging it to have been him instead.

Patroclus’s dead eyes staring back.

Achilles had given up the last of his humanity the moment he stepped foot in battle with Hector.

Achilles finally at peace, reunited with the one he had truly loved.

0-0-0

Silena finally got a name. After a year she finally got a name.

After so _long_ of her mind being unable to make a connection, after the names being tumbled and forgotten she finally remembered.

Patroclus

**Achilles.**

That’s what she was, that’s who _they_ were. The two of them, inseparable since they’d met. In love and having nothing to change that.

(Except rebirth, apparently)

Of course it had to be when the war had finally started.

0-0-0

Lee Fletcher is always ready for one of Silenas panics.

 _Always_.

It’s five o’clock in the morning. The ass crack of dawn. The entire cabins awake so why not add one more?

Kalya was stringing her bow, Austin brushing his teeth, Micheal cursing at there dad for giving them the curse to wake them up _this early_.

Will though, Will was currently either doing one of two things in the morning. Talking about his crush or talking about how much he hated Bianca.

Lee couldn’t decide which one was worse.

Luckily, Silena was here to distract him from his older brother duties.

The two of them have had each other since they first came to camp together. Usually when Silena has one of those moments though, it’s not her questioning her identity.

But hey, Lee had heard crazier shit.

“So, you think you’re a rebirth of Patroclus?”

Silena was clutching her head, staring down as if in pain. The Apollo cabin had asked the Hephaestus cabin for electricity, Lee had lied, being one of the only ones to do so well (“Oh y’know,” Lee said, sweating. “Medical equipment and stuff,”) but in reality it was to work the five coffee machines they had. One for each camper.

Silena (the _audacity_ of the bitch) had stolen Lee’s coffee. He’d let it slide. Just this once.

After all. She’d just found out she was _Patroclus_ and was having a midlife crisis (with demigods life span it was more like endlife crisis) about what the fuck she should do about it.

“Yes?! I mean, probably?!” Silena sighed and drank the coffee. It was surprising to see her down the pure black coffee like it was nothing, especially with her sweet tooth. “I could be but I also could just be having dreams?! You once had a dream about Orion, remember?”

Lee did not want to be reminded of that in the _ass crack of dawn_. It had been on their first quest together, and had helped a tiny bit in understanding his father once they had needed to talk to him about the scorpion (just… just don’t ask, that quest had been a nightmare). "Yeah, but that was once, this has been going on for multiple times, actually on that point, how did you only now realise it was those two,”

“The names were blurred out,” Silena said, before realising she didn’t make sense and continuing. “Like, whenever they said the names it’d just… go in one ear and out the other,”

Lee nodded.

“What that fuck am I going to do about it?” Silena exclaimed.

“You could ignore it?” Lee shrugged. “Or you could talk to the rebirth experts. Bianca and Nico,”

Lee had been actually making an effort to know Nico. And he’d found the kid had actually once been a Mythomagic fan (Lee still had some of his old cards).

Will perked up at the mention of the underworld siblings, but Michael put the kids bisexual head back down. This wasn’t his conversation.

“I can’t,” Silena clutched her head again after downing the glass. “You know how stressed those two are,”

Lee nodded at that. Nico was sometimes at camp and then he’d disappear the moment all eyes were off him. Bianca was cracking, Lee could tell that just by _looking_ at her.

“So I guess you can just ignore it, for now,”

Silena looked at the flowers that hung off the walls. Sighing, she straightened up. “I guess so,”

0-0-0

The end of the world started with Leo Valdez denting Percy’s car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thank you for taking your time to read! I hope you enjoy the story!  
> (This is the 4th book in a series, personally, to understand everything you only need to read books one and three before this, there long but I think they're worth the read).


	2. Blowing Up A Boat Together Is A Bro Thing To Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exploding a boat.

_Hey, boss,_ a voice said in Percy’s head. _Nice car!_

Percy tried very, very hard not to get annoyed as he saw the craters on the hood of the car. 

“Blackjack," he sighed. "What are you-," 

Then he saw who was riding on his back, and he knew his day was about to get a lot more complicated.

“Leo!” Percy said excitedly. Trying to brighten up a bit.

Leo Valdez was a scrawny kid, with curly dark hair and ears that made him look like Santa's little helper. He was constantly hyper and constantly making something with his hands. Every new contraption he would make just from _fiddling_ was another weapon against the monsters.

Percy also hadn’t seen him since, well, since summer camp. Sure, Bianca had talked to the guy and so Percy knew he was alright but other than that Percy hadn’t even heard from Leo.

Apparently he’d been staying with Piper (one of Percy’s best friends and Bianca’s _girlfriend_ ) Mclean over the year. Since Leo was smart enough to understand college level math he didn’t really need tutoring in that department.

“Ey! Percy it’s been a while!” Leo gave him the signature maniac grin that he’d given so many times. “Are you ready to blow up some ships?”

He looked as though he was trying to make a joke of the situation, and as though there was nothing that could hurt him. Which the very dangerous explosives he had on him said otherwise.

Rachel looked up at Leo. “Hi,”

“Oh, hello,” Leo’s smile became a bit more awkward (it always did that around girls). “You must be… Rachel? Bianca talks about you sometimes,”

“We go to school together,” Rachel nodded. She glanced at Blackjack, who was clopping his hooves against the hood of the Prius. "So I guess you guys have to go save the world now." 

"Pretty much," Leo agreed. 

Percy looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom-," 

"I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it. And I'll explain to Paul about the hood."

“Are you gonna tell Bianca?” Leo asked.

Bianca was living in the Jackson residence. She had been for about a year now, and her identity papers were forged as adopted by Sally. So it made sense that at least _one_ of the di Angelo’s would stay there.

Rachel shrugged. “She probably knows already, I swear that girl is an oracle,”

Percy didn’t know why he had the primal instinct to laugh. For a second it looked like green mist swirled around Rachel, but then it just flickered out as if it had never existed.

He nodded in thanks.

"Good luck." Rachel kissed Percy before he could even react. "Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me." 

His last view of her was sitting in the shotgun seat of the Prius, her arms crossed, watching as Blackjack circled higher and higher, carrying Leo and him into the sky. 

"So," Leo said with a smug grin, "I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth."

"Oh, gods," Percy muttered. "Don't even think about it." 

Leo let out a laugh as they soared out over the Atlantic.

0-0-0

It was almost dark by the time they spotted their target. The Princess Andromeda glowed on the horizon—a huge cruise ship lit up yellow and white. From a distance, you'd think it was just a party ship, not the headquarters for the Titan lord. Then as you got closer, you might notice the giant figurehead—a dark haired maiden in a Greek chiton, wrapped in chains with a look of horror on her face, as if she could smell the stench of all the monsters she was being forced to carry.

"You know what to do?" Leo yelled over the wind. 

Percy nodded. They’d done dry runs at the dockyards in New Jersey, using abandoned ships as the targets. He knew how little time they would have. But he also knew this was the best chance to end Kronos's invasion before it ever started.

"Blackjack," Percy said, "set us down on the lowest stern deck." 

_Gotcha, boss_ , he said. _Man, I hate seeing that boat_.

"Don't wait for us," Percy told him. 

_But, boss-_

"Trust me," Percy said. "We'll get out by ourselves."

Blackjack folded his wings and plummeted toward the boat like a black comet. The wind whistled in Percy’s ears. He saw monsters patrolling the upper decks of the ship-dracaenae snake-women, hellhounds (not like Bianca’s hellhound, Mrs O’Leary), giants, and the humanoid seal-demons known as telkhines-but Leo and him zipped by so fast, none of them raised the alarm. 

The two of them shot down the stern of the boat, and Blackjack spread his wings, lightly coming to a landing on the lowest deck. Percy climbed off, feeling queasy.

Leo didn’t, he never got queasy unless it was cars, and only cars. He’d driven a motorcycle once but nope, cars were the only thing that got him.

 _Good luck, boss,_ Blackjack said. _Don't let 'em turn you into horse meat!_

With that, his old friend flew off into the night. Percy took his pen out of his pocket and uncapped it, and Riptide sprang to full size-three feet of deadly Celestial bronze glowing in the dusk. 

Leo pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. Percy thought it was a map or something. Then he realized it was a photograph. Leo stared at it in the dim light-a girl with skin as warm as coco and a smile that radiated sunshine with messy hair, Leo was in the photo too. The two of them were smiling at each other.

“Who’s that-?”

“Nobody!” Leo hastily said as he pocketed the photo. He had a blush on his cheeks and a stance as though he was hiding something.

Percy narrowed his eyes. Leo gulped.

“Did… you get a girlfriend without me knowing?” Percy asked. Leo looked guilty and Percy realised he’d hit the mark. “You didn’t tell me!”

“Man-,”

“C’mon, I thought we were bro’s,” Percy put a hand to his chest in betrayal.

“Look, we can talk about her later, right now we’ve got a ship to blow up into a million pieces,” Leo said quickly, trying to avoid the subject.

Percy wished he wasn’t right.

0-0-0

Leo led the way. They followed a narrow corridor to the service stairwell, just like they'd practiced, but they both froze when they heard noises above.

"I don't care what your nose says!" snarled a half-human, half-dog voice-a telkhine. "The last time you smelled half-blood, it turned out to be a meatloaf sandwich!"

"Meatloaf sandwiches are good!" a second voice snarled. "But this is half-blood scent, I swear. They are on board!" 

"Bah, your brain isn't on board!" 

They continued to argue, and Leo pointed downstairs. The two boys descended as quietly as they could. Two floors down, the voices of the telkhines started to fade. 

Finally they came to a metal hatch. Leo mouthed the words "engine room." It was locked, but he pulled some chain cutters out of his bag and split the bolt like it was made of butter. 

Leo didn’t look like he had the strength to do that, maybe it was just a Hephaestus thing.

Inside, a row of yellow turbines the size of grain silos churned and hummed. Pressure gauges and computer terminals lined the opposite wall. A telkhine was hunched over a console, but he was so involved with his work, he didn't notice them. He was about five feet tall, with slick black seal fur and stubby little feet. He growled and muttered as he tapped on his keyboard.

Percy stepped forward, and the monster tensed, probably smelling something was wrong. He leaped sideways toward a big red alarm button, but Percy blocked his path. He hissed and lunged at Percy, but one slice of Riptide, and he exploded into dust. 

"One down," Leo said. "About five thousand to go." He tossed Percy a jar of thick green liquid-Greek fire, one of the most dangerous magical substances in the world. Then he threw Percy another essential tool of demigod heroes-duct tape. 

"Slap that one on the console," he said. "I'll get the turbines."

Leo usually would joke more. Except he was working, projects were the sort of thing that made him shut down and stop talking. The room was hot and humid, and in no time they were drenched in sweat. 

The boat kept chugging along. Being the son of Poseidon and all, Percy had perfect bearings at sea. He could tell they were at 40.19° North, 71.90° West, making eighteen knots, which meant the ship would arrive in New York Harbor by dawn.

Percy had just attached a second jar of Greek fire to the control panels when he heard the pounding of feet on metal steps-so many creatures coming down the stairwell he could hear them over the engines. Not a good sign. 

“Of course,” Leo sighed. “Monsters, we can never just explode a boat in piece,”

Percy locked eyes with Leo. "How much longer?" 

“Ten minutes, at most,” Leo said. “But hey, we’ve faced worse odds,”

Percy nodded at that. Still didn’t calm his nerves.

"I'll distract them," Percy said. "Meet you at the rendezvous point." 

“Don’t die,” Leo called back. He knew better than to argue.

Percy charged out the door. 

0-0-0

A half dozen telkhines were tromping down the stairs. Percy cut through them with Riptide faster than they could yelp. He kept climbing-past another telkhine, who was so startled he dropped his Lil' Demons lunch box. Percy left him alive. 

It would make sure the other monsters would run after him, not go to the engine room.

Percy burst through a door onto deck six and kept running. Over the last three years of monster occupation the wallpaper, carpet, and stateroom doors had been clawed up and slimed so it looked like the inside of a dragon's throat.

Percy reached the promenade, a big shopping mall that took up the whole middle of the ship, and stopped cold. In the middle of the courtyard stood a fountain. And in the fountain squatted a giant crab. 

Not, y’know an _edible_ giant crab that you would have at a seafood restaurant. No. The thing was _massive_. The monster rose ten feet out of the water. Its shell was mottled blue and green, its pincers longer than Percy’s body. 

Its beady black eyes glared at him, showing intelligence and hate. The fact that Percy was the son of the sea god was not going to win him any points with Mr. Crabby. 

"FFFFffffff," it hissed, sea foam dripping from its mouth. The smell coming off it was like a garbage can full of fish sticks that had been sitting in the sun all week. 

Alarms blared. Percy really hated his odds. 

0-0-0

Percy burst outside onto the main deck. Off the port bow, the sky was darkening from purple to black. A swimming pool glowed between two glass towers with more balconies and restaurant decks. 

The whole upper ship seemed eerily deserted. All he had to do was cross to the other side. Then he could take the staircase down to the helipad-the emergency rendezvous point. With any luck, Valdez would meet him there. They’d jump into the sea. His water powers would protect them both, and then they’d detonate the charges from a quarter mile away. 

He was halfway across the deck when he froze from the sound of a voice that was all too familiar. 

"You're late, Percy." Luke stood on the balcony above Percy, a smile on his scarred face. He wore jeans, a white T-shirt, and flip-flops, like he was just a normal college-age guy, but his eyes told the truth. They were solid gold. 

That was Kronos, not Luke.

"We were guessing you’d come sooner," At first he sounded normal, like Luke. But then his face twitched. A shudder passed through his body as though he'd just drunk something really nasty. His voice became heavier, ancient, and powerful—the voice of the Titan lord Kronos. The words scraped down Percy’s spine like a knife blade. "Come, bow before me."

"Yeah, that'll happen," Percy muttered.

Laistrygonian giants filed in on either side of the swimming pool as if they'd been waiting for a cue. Each was eight feet tall with tattooed arms, leather armor, and spiked clubs. Demigod archers appeared on the roof above Luke. A Hellhound leaped down from the opposite balcony and snarled at Percy. Within seconds he was surrounded. A trap.

Percy looked up at Luke, and anger boiled inside him. He didn't know if Luke's consciousness was even still alive inside that body. Maybe, the way his voice had changed . . . or maybe it was just Kronos adapting to his new form. Percy told himself it didn't matter. Luke had been twisted and evil long before Kronos possessed him. 

A voice in his head said: _I have to fight him eventually. Why not now?_

According to that big prophecy, Percy was supposed to make a choice that saved or destroyed the world when he was sixteen. That was only seven days away. Why not now? If Percy really had the power, what difference would a week make? He could end this threat right here by taking down Kronos. Hey, he'd fought monsters and gods before. 

As if reading his thoughts, Luke smiled. No, he was Kronos. Percy had to remember that. "Come forward," he said. "If you dare." 

Percy dared. When had he literally ever not dared.

The crowd of monsters parted. Percy moved up the stairs, his heart pounding. He was pretty sure one of the monsters would stab him in the back, yet no monster made their move. Riptide was back in his pocket. Ready and waiting to be uncapped.

Kronos's weapon appeared in his hands-a six-foot-long scythe, half Celestial bronze, half mortal steel. That thing was terrifying, and currently making Percy’s legs turn to Jell-o, but like that would stop Percy from charging.

Time slowed down. Which, you know, was possible since Kronos had that power. Didn’t mean it was fair. As Percy’s arms slowed as if he was in a matrix movie, except less cool and without him being on the winning side.

Kronos just sauntered forward as if he’d already won. Like the little bitch he was.

Percy tried to concentrate on the ocean, his source of power, to break out of the magic. Nothing happened except for the echo of laughter and hissing coming from the Giants and Dracaenae.

 _Hey, ocean,_ Percy pleaded _. Any day now would be good_. 

His gut wretched, feeling like it was going to vomit as the entire boat lurched sideways. Monsters off their feet, being thrown to the side and out of the way. Four thousand gallons of salt water surged out of the swimming pool, dousing Percy and Kronos and everyone on the deck. The water revitalized him, breaking the time spell, and allowing him to lunge forward.

Percy made the mistake of thinking of Kronos as Luke, just for a second. Kronos had no such qualms though. He sliced downward with his scythe. Percy leaped back, and the evil blade missed by an inch, cutting a gash in the deck right between his feet. 

Hahah. Percy was in danger.

Percy kicked Kronos in the chest. The lord of time stumbled backwards.

Kronos swung his scythe again. Percy intercepted with Riptide, but his strike was so powerful, the blade could only deflect it. The edge of the scythe shaved off Percy’s shirtsleeve and grazed his arm. It shouldn't have been a serious cut, but the entire side of his body exploded with pain. 

Bianca had warned about this, being related to souls and everything, she’d _seen_ it. 

“ _T_ _hat thing… Don’t let it touch you Percy. Ever. Your soul is your core that connects to your outer shell, if the soul isn’t there… If it isn’t connected… Just don’t let it touch you_ ,”

Now Percy understood what she meant. He was losing blood, sure, but he was also losing his strength, and his soul.

The thing was, at the reminder of Bianca, Percy also realised something. The iron skin, the curse of Achilles (the plan, he desperately didn’t want to think of the plan), and Percy didn’t know where his weak spot was.

Oh shit, he was screwed. 

He could run, or he could take his luck. Running would mean he’d probably get shot, or Kronos would scour the boat including the engine room (bad, if Leo died that would be very bad).

So fight it was then.

Percy stumbled backward, before he switched his sword to his left hand, and lunged desperately. The blade should've run him through, but it deflected off his stomach like Percy was hitting solid marble. There was no way he should've survived that. 

Godsdamnit where was that stupid weak spot!

Kronos laughed. "A poor performance, Percy Jackson. Luke tells me you were never his match at swordplay." 

"Luke had a big head," Percy said. "But at least it was his head."

"A shame to kill you now," Kronos mused, "before the final plan unfolds. I would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus." 

_What a bitch_ , Percy thought in his delusional state. "You'll never get this boat to Manhattan." 

"And why would that be?" Kronos's golden eyes glittered. His face—Luke's face—seemed like a mask, unnatural and lit from behind by some evil power. "Perhaps you are counting on your friend?" 

_Leo_.

Please don’t be dead.

Kronos looked down at the pool and called, "Nakamura!" 

A teenage guy in full Greek armor pushed through the crowd. His left eye was covered with a black patch. Percy squinted his eyes as he looked at Ethan, as this was the little bitch that repaid Percy for saving his life with reviving Kronos.

Fun.

"Success, my lord," Ethan called. "We found him just as we were told." He clapped his hands, and two giants lumbered forward, dragging Leo between them. Percy’s heart almost stopped. Leo had a swollen eye and cuts all over his face and arms.

He gave Percy a crazy smile, one that the others just ignored. Leo’s eyes were darting all over the place, but they kept coming back to his wrist.

Then Percy noticed Leo still had his watch. The thing for the detonation.

Depending on what had happened this could still work.

"We found him amidships," one of the giants said, "trying to sneak to the engine room. Can we eat him now?"

"Soon." Kronos scowled at Ethan. "Are you sure he didn't set the explosives?" 

"He was going toward the engine room, my lord." 

"How do you know that?" 

"Er . . ." Ethan shifted uncomfortably. "He was heading in that direction. And he told us. His bag is still full of explosives." 

Holy shit. Leo had fooled them.

Percy turned to Leo, who looked like he was trying his best to resist obviously winking.

Kronos hesitated. 

_Buy the story_ , Percy prayed. Everything hurt, especially his arm but he was still tempted to put his hands together in the classic way just to make it work.

It didn’t work.

"Open his bag," Kronos ordered. 

One of the giants ripped the explosives satchel from Leo’s shoulders. He peered inside, grunted, and turned it upside down. Panicked monsters surged backward. If the bag really had been full of Greek fire jars, they would've all blown up. But what fell out were a dozen cans of peaches.

Leo looked like he wanted to laugh, which was really inappropriate since he could die at any moment.

He could hear Kronos breathing, trying to control his anger.

"Did you, perhaps," he said, "capture this demigod near the galley?" 

Ethan turned pale. "Um-," 

"And did you, perhaps, send someone to actually CHECK THE ENGINE ROOM?" 

Ethan scrambled back in terror, then turned on his heels and ran. Percy cursed silently. Now they had only minutes before the bombs were disarmed. He caught Leo’s eyes again and asked a silent question, hoping he would understand: _How long_? 

Leo cupped his fingers and thumb, making a circle. Zero. There was no delay on the timer at all. If he managed to press the detonator button, the ship would blow at once. They'd never be able to get far enough away before using it. The monsters would kill them first, or disarm the explosives, or both. 

Kronos turned toward me with a crooked smile. "You'll have to excuse my incompetent help, Percy Jackson. But it doesn't matter, we’ll still always be one step ahead,”

He held out his hand and dangled a little silver bracelet with a scythe charm—the Titan lord's symbol.

Some part of Percy couldn’t help thinking that Kronos was confident he was going to win so much he was giving away an obvious advantage (and if Percy has learned one thing from Greek mythology it’s that Hubris is one hell of a weakness), "Communication device… spy at camp." 

Kronos chuckled. "You can't count on friends. They will always let you down. Luke learned that lesson the hard way. Now drop your sword and surrender to me, or your friend dies."

The funny thing was, something in Percy's subconscious shimmered in his horrible state. And in his delusional state Percy muttered. “She wouldn’t… not again,”

But before he could grasp what he was talking about, why he had said she his memories failed him. Except the room stuttered and flicked.

Just a bit.

At one point there was one Hellhound, then there were two. Then there were more demigods than Percy could swear seeing, they were more prepared and practiced as if they’d been informed ahead of time.

Most disturbingly, instead of Leo a bigger beefier person took his place. Beckendorf. It was Beckendorf, the councillor of the Hephaestus cabin. 

Percy blinked a few times. If this was a vision it was not the moment to be showing.

As if reading Percy’s thoughts the figures shimmered again. Two Hellhounds went to one, the demigod archers became more disorganised and messy, looking to have less confidence, and Beckendorf switched back to Leo.

What. The fuck. Was that?

Percy didn’t even have time to process what the fuck was going on.

Then he noticed what Leo was doing. He had been struggling a bit earlier, as one of the giants had his hand around the kids neck. Suddenly though the giant screeched in pain and clutched his side.

“He burned me! How did he burn me?! He doesn't have any fire!” The giant bellowed as Leo ran, the archers took that as their que to start firing. But since they weren’t so practiced and Leo was a slippery fellow most of them missed.

Except for one, which lodged into Leo’s shoulder. He hissed in pain but didn’t stop running until he’d clutched onto Percy’s shirt and continued running dragging Percy along.

Most of the archers were reloading. That didn’t stop Kronos though. As he came forward with the intent to kill.

“Get them! Somebody get them!” He yelled over all of the chaos.

Percy was too tired to properly fight back, and the monsters weren’t moving aside for Leo to jump into the ocean.

Leo was having none of that though. 

His free hand burst with red hot flames that shot out at the monsters (when had he been able to do that?!). They screeched and tried to avoid it, with a few unlucky ones getting turned to ashes. Leo rushed forward and jumped off the boat dragging a slower Percy in after him.

“Percy! Water powers!” Leo shouted. Percy unfroze out of his shock and took in a breath. Clutching onto Leo tightly, and making sure he was not going to be the first to impact, Percy concentrated.

It was hard to concentrate when monsters yelled above you and when an arrow lodged into his thigh, but hey, he had to keep Leo alive.

They plunged into the sea and he willed the currents to take them far, far away—a hundred yards, two hundred yards.

Leo pressed his watch.

Even from that distance, the explosion shook the world. Heat seared the back of Percy’s head. The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything. 

Then Percy blacked out and would have sunk if not for Leo keeping a tight clutch on him and yelling into his ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Please comment, it sustains me!


	3. Leo is uncomfortable for about ten minutes (or more)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You know the feeling when families fight. Like you know the family but you don't KNOW the family, so your just off to the side awkwardly. Leo felt exactly like that

Bianca had been anxious to see how the quest on the Princess Andromeda would go. Beckendorf had died last time but Leo wasn’t Beckendorf. Would that just make it worse? Better?

Bianca didn’t know.

To make matters worse, her brother had been visiting Hazel and Calypso (who had been convincing the Romans that Kronos was a much bigger threat than he appeared to be, and that they would need to prepare for war) and had decided to take it upon himself to spy for information.

Like, what the fuck Nico?! Are you trying to make Bianca more stressed than she already is?!

He hadn't asked. He hadn't told her what he was planning to do.

As she sat in the Artemis cabin with her girlfriend patting her head in comfort. Waiting for a ringing in her ear she heard nothing.

She hoped to get something soon or else she was going to lose her mind.

“Are you okay Angel face?” Piper said. She’d started to call Bianca that as soon as she’d found out di Angelo meant angel. Bianca usually stuck to calling Piper either Pipes or amore.

“I just… don’t want any of them to get hurt,”

Piper kissed her forehead. “I’m sure they’ll be fine, Leo’s like a cockroach, nobody could kill him if they tried,”

0-0-0

"Percy?" a deep voice said. 

His head felt like it had been microwaved in aluminum foil. Percy opened his eyes and saw a large shadowy figure looming over him.

“Where’s Leo?” Percy asked instantly.

“I’m right here,” A familiar voice said. Making Percy sigh with relief. 

His eyes refocused. Percy was looking at a Cyclops—a misshapen face, ratty brown hair, one big brown eye full of concern. "Tyson?"

His brother broke into a toothy grin. "Yay! Your brain works!" 

Percy looked to the side to see a very weirded out Leo, but he was unharmed.

Percy felt weightless and cold. His voice sounded wrong. Percy could hear Tyson, but it was more like he was hearing vibrations inside his skull, not the regular sounds.

“Wait…” Percy looked at Leo up and down. “How are you not drowning? Or breaking from the pressure and cold?”

Leo did jazz hands. “Magic!”

Percy looked at him weirdly. Before shrugging and accepting it.

"Where—" 

"Daddy's palace," Tyson said.

Percy probably should’ve been more excited, but everything hurt, he had burn marks and that wound on his shoulder still ached.

"How long—"

"They found us," Leo interjected. “Some sea creatures told Posideon and he ordered you back to the castle, they interrogated me on what happened,” He shuddered. “Your siblings are terrifying Percy,”

"The Princess Andromeda?" 

"Went ka-boom," Tyson confirmed.

Percy thought about what had happened on the ship. A few things were fuzzy due to the pain but the big details stood out. There was a spy at camp. That Percy had some sort of vision with Beckendorf instead of Leo and that Leo could summon fire.

Percy met Leo’s eyes. The kid looked apprehensive and waiting, as if being ready to be yelled at. Percy thought about it, and then realised it would just be better to bring it up later.

All of it he’d have to bring up at some point.

A distant blast shook the room. Green light blazed outside, turning the whole sea as bright as noon. 

"What was that?" Percy asked. 

Tyson looked worried. "Daddy will explain. Come, he is blowing up monsters." 

0-0-0

The palace might have been the most amazing place he would have ever seen if it hadn't been in the process of getting destroyed. They swam to the end of a long hallway and shot upward on a geyser. As they rose over the rooftops Percy caught his breath.

The palace was as big as the city on Mount Olympus, with wide courtyards, gardens, and columned pavilions. The gardens were sculpted with coral colonies and glowing sea plants. Twenty or thirty buildings were made of abalone, white but gleaming with rainbow colors. Fish and octopi darted in and out of the windows. The paths were lined with glowing pearls like Christmas lights.

“Wow,” Leo said softly. “This place is amazing, nothing like the little mermaid,” Then he turned to Percy. “Is this you paying up for seeing my dad without me?”

Percy remembered that. The labyrinth group had seen Hephaestus and even though Leo had volunteered to come he hadn’t been allowed to by an overprotective Bianca.

“Leo, I didn’t even bring you here on purpose,”

Leo shrugged. “Man, I don’t know your schedule, you forgot the invasion to spend time with a girl, you could’ve forgotten more,”

Percy blushed at the mention of Rachel, but tried to ignore it.

The main courtyard was filled with warriors—mermen with fish tails from the waist down and human bodies from the waist up, except their skin was blue. Some were tending the wounded. Some were sharpening spears and swords. One passed them, swimming in a hurry. His eyes were bright green, like that stuff they put in glow-sticks, and his teeth were shark teeth.

Outside the main courtyard stood large fortifications—towers, walls, and anti siege weapons—but most of these had been smashed to ruins. Others were blazing with a strange green light that Percy knew well—Greek fire, which can burn even underwater. .

At the edge of the palace complex, a temple with a red coral roof exploded, sending fire and debris streaming in slow motion across the farthest gardens. Out of the darkness above, an enormous form appeared—a squid larger than any skyscraper. It was surrounded by a glittering cloud of dust—at least Percy thought it was dust, until he realized it was a swarm of mermen trying to attack the monster.

The squid descended on the palace and swatted its tentacles, smashing a whole column of warriors. Then a brilliant arc of blue light shot from the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings. The light hit the giant squid, and the monster dissolved like food coloring in water. 

“Oh shit,” Leo whispered.

Percy couldn’t help but agree.

"Daddy," Tyson said, pointing to where the light had come from.

"He did that?" Percy suddenly felt more hopeful. His dad had unbelievable powers. He was the god of the sea. He could deal with this attack, right? Maybe he'd let Percy help. 

"Have you been in the fight?" Percy asked Tyson in awe. Not taking into account that Leo was doing the cutting motion to signal him to not. "Like bashing heads with your awesome Cyclops strength and stuff?" 

Tyson pouted, and immediately he knew he'd asked a bad question, "I have been . . . fixing weapons," he mumbled. "Come. Let's go find Daddy."

Leo reassured Tyson that fixing things was a great use of time as they made there way towards Percy’s father.

0-0-0

Nico returned to camp. Only to have Bianca slam hug him.

“Don’t you _ever_ do that again. I swear to _gods_ I nearly had a panic attack,” Bianca ruffled her little brother's hair. Nico tried to pry his sister off without showing how much he secretly enjoyed it.

“We needed information-,” Nico tried to say.

“I already have a steady source of information,” Bianca cut in, side eyeing Silena. Who had been working overtime in providing Bianca the info she needed to create proper defences.

Nico hated being treated like a child. Bianca knew this, ever since the… Incident with memory Bianca was trying to trust her brother with her secrets, but it was hard, especially since she couldn’t reveal her most dangerous secret with him.

Nico huffed. “I wouldn’t have gotten hurt,”

“You could’ve,” Bianca said. “Look, I know you want to convince Percy about the plan, and he _is_ coming around, but you need to be patient. No matter how much information you put on the table he’s only going to get more anxious,”

“I hate being patient,”

“Don’t we all,”

0-0-0

Leo hadn’t met Poseidon before. But it hadn’t been on the list of his priorities when he’d come down there.

His main priorities were two things. One, get Percy and himself back to camp to say that the ship had blown up, and two, get Percy to keep quiet about the fire thing.

Leo only used fire as a last resort. Only when his brains or running away couldn’t get him out of a situation would he use the third option. And he’d had to use it.

It wasn’t like Leo _regretted_ using his fire. After all, Leo was pretty sure they’d both be dead if he hadn’t used it. What Leo did regret though, was that Percy saw it.

Fuck. He was going to ask questions.

 _Fuck_.

Leo tried not to panic and burst into flames, as the magic that was keeping him alive seemed to be a thin layer of regenerating oxygen. Oxygen and fire just meant fire kept on burning.

Instead of thinking about suffocating to death in flames while underwater Leo looked at the council ahead of him, and where he was.

The roof of the temple was a big open deck that had been set up as a command center. A mosaic on the floor showed an exact map of the palace grounds and the surrounding ocean, but the mosaic moved. Colored stone tiles representing different armies and sea monsters shifted around as the forces changed position. Buildings that collapsed in real life also collapsed in the picture.

Standing around the mosaic, grimly studying the battle, was a strange assortment of warriors.

One guy was a merman with two fish tails instead of one. His skin was green, his armour studded with pearls. His black hair was tied in a ponytail, and he looked young.

Standing next to him was an old man with a bushy white beard and grey hair. His battle armour seemed to weigh him down. He had green eyes and smile wrinkles around his eyes, but he wasn't smiling now. He was studying the map and leaning on a large metal staff. 

Leo could guess immediately that _that_ was Poseidon.

To his right stood a beautiful woman in green armour with flowing black hair and strange little horns like crab claws. And there was a dolphin—just a regular dolphin, but it was staring at the map intently. 

"Delphin," probably Poseidon said. "Send Palaemon and his legion of sharks to the western front. We have to neutralize those leviathans." 

The dolphin spoke in a chattering voice. Leo couldn’t understand what it was saying, but it seemed like Percy did.

Percy looked at possibly Poseidon, then Tyson, then Poseidon again. “....Dad?”

The old man looked up. 

"Hello, Percy." 

"What-what happened to you?" 

Tyson nudged Percy. He was shaking his head so hard Leo was afraid it would fall off, but Poseidon didn't look offended.

"It's all right, Tyson," he said. "Percy, excuse my appearance. The war has been hard on me."

"But you're immortal," Percy said quietly. "You can look . . . any way you want."

That…. wasn’t _technically_ true. As Hephaestus (Leo’s father) was one of the gods that was considered ugly. Gods had a default form (or at least most of them) and that form depended on their domain, their worship and their creations. That sort of stuff.

So it made sense to Leo why Poseidon was like that.

"I reflect the state of my realm," he said. "And right now that state is quite grim. Percy, I should introduce you-I'm afraid you just missed my lieutenant Delphin, God of the Dolphins. This is my, er, wife, Amphitrite. My dear-,"

The lady in green armor stared at Percy coldly, then crossed her arms and said, "Excuse me, my lord. I am needed in the battle." 

She swam away. 

Leo wondered what it would be like if he met _his_ step parent. Aphrodite. She’d probably just treat her like any other demigod, as the relationship between Leo’s father and Aphrodite wasn’t a good one.

Poseidon cleared his throat. "Yes, well . . . and this is my son Triton. Er, my other son."

"Your son and heir," the green dude corrected. His double fish tails swished back and forth. He smiled at Percy, but there was no friendliness in his eyes. "Hello, Perseus Jackson. Come to help at last?" 

Percy was blushing as if he thought he was being lazy for not fighting on the battle field front. Leo looked entirely unimpressed at Triton. “Why would you need an heir? Poseidon isn’t going to die of old age,”

Triton glared at Leo. Leo would’ve stuck his tongue out if he didn’t respect being alive at the moment.

"Tell me what to do," Percy said. 

Triton smirked like that was a cute suggestion. He turned to Poseidon. "I will see to the front line, Father. Don't worry. I will not fail."

He nodded politely to Tyson. How come Percy didn't get that much respect? Then he shot off into the water. Poseidon sighed. He raised his staff, and it changed into his regular weapon—a huge three-pointed trident. The tip glowed with blue light, and the water around it boiled with energy.

Leo felt very out of place.

This was family matters, and a private father-son moment. Leo was also pretty sure though that if he left Percy he would probably die.

"I'm sorry about that," Poseidon told Percy. A huge sea serpent appeared from above them and spiraled down toward the roof. It was bright orange with a fanged mouth big enough to swallow a gymnasium.

Hardly looking up, Poseidon pointed his trident at the beast and zapped it with blue energy. Ka-boom! The monster burst into a million goldfish, which all swam off in terror. 

That’s what Leo meant about dying if left alone.

"My family is anxious," Poseidon continued as if nothing had happened. Leo sweatdropped at the power of the gods. "The battle against Oceanus is going poorly." 

He pointed to the edge of the mosaic. With the butt of his trident he tapped the image of a merman larger than the rest, with the horns of a bull. He appeared to be riding a chariot pulled by crawfish, and instead of a sword he wielded a live serpent. 

"Oceanus," Percy said. "The Titan of the sea?" 

Poseidon nodded. "He was neutral in the first war of gods and Titans. But Kronos has convinced him to fight. This is . . . well, it's not a good sign. Oceanus would not commit unless he was sure he could pick the winning side." 

"He looks stupid," Percy said, trying to sound upbeat. "I mean, who fights with a snake?" 

"Daddy will tie it in knots," Tyson said firmly. 

Leo nodded, while he still felt out of place in the clear family talk he did agree that Poseidon had to win.

Poseidon smiled, but he looked weary. "I appreciate your faith. We have been at war almost a year now. My powers are taxed. And still he finds new forces to throw at me—sea monsters so ancient I had forgotten about them."

Leo heard an explosion in the distance. About half a mile away, a mountain of coral disintegrated under the weight of two giant creatures. Leo could barely make out their shapes. One was a lobster. The other was a giant humanoid like a Cyclops, but he was surrounded by a flurry of limbs. Leo realized they were his own arms—a hundred flailing, fighting arms. 

"Briares!" Percy said.

A, that cyclops cousin that had helped in the battle of the labyrinth. 

"He fights well," Poseidon said. "I wish we had a whole army like him, but he is the only one."

Leo focused back onto the god. He still stayed quiet, and he knew it was unlike him but… Percy was getting to see his dad. There were some things Leo really didn’t want to ruin.

"Percy, we may not have much time," his dad said. "Tell me of your mission. Did you see Kronos?" 

Percy began to explain, Leo interjected a few times, showing his side of the story and making absolute sure the god didn’t know about Leo’s fire abilities. Percy had looked at him weirdly but he (thankfully) hadn’t commented.

Poseidon stroked his beard. "Kronos's army will be in disarray. Many were destroyed."

"But we didn't kill him, did we?" 

"No," Poseidon admitted. "But you've bought our side some time." 

"There were demigods on that ship,"

“Percy,” Leo said. He wasn’t good at comforting but he tried his best. “They could have escaped, and even if they didn’t, it was there choice to join Kronos,”

"They were brainwashed!" Percy yelled. "Now they're dead and Kronos is still alive. That's supposed to make me feel better?"

Percy glared at the mosaic—little tile explosions destroying tile monsters. It seemed so easy when it was just a picture. 

Tyson put his arm around Percy. If anybody else had tried that, he would've pushed him away, but Tyson was too big and stubborn. He hugged anybody whether they wanted it or not. "Not your fault, brother. Kronos does not explode good. Next time we will use a big stick."

"Percy, Valdez," Percy's father said. "You two have scattered the invasion force. New York will be safe for a time, which frees the other Olympians to deal with the bigger threat." 

"The bigger threat?" Leo asked. What could be a bigger threat than Kronos.

A shadow passed over Poseidon's face. "You've had enough sorrow for one day. Ask Chiron when you return to camp." 

"Return to camp? But you're in trouble here. I want to help!" 

"You can't, Percy. Your job is elsewhere." 

Leo couldn't believe he was hearing this. Percy looked at Tyson for backup. His brother chewed his lip. "Daddy . . . Percy can fight with a sword. He is good." 

"I know that," Poseidon said gently. 

"Dad, I can help," Percy said. "I know I can. You're not going to hold out here much longer."

“Percy,” Leo said. “We have to go,”

“No! I can help!”

A fireball launched into the sky from behind the enemy lines. Leo thought Poseidon would deflect it or something, but it landed on the outer corner of the yard and exploded, sending mermen tumbling through the water. Poseidon winced as if he'd just been stabbed. 

"Return to camp," he insisted. "And tell Chiron it is time." 

"For what?" 

"You must hear the prophecy. The entire prophecy." 

Oh, right. _The prophecy_.

"What if this is the decision?" Percy said. "Staying here to light, or leaving? What if I leave and you..." 

He wouldn’t say die. Gods didn’t die. They faded.

"Percy, you must go," Poseidon insisted. "I don't know what your final decision will be, but your fight lies in the world above. If nothing else, you must warn your friends at camp. You have a spy. We will hold here. We have no choice." 

Tyson gripped his hand desperately. "I will miss you, brother!"

"Tyson, you have work to do as well, my son. They need you in the armory." Tyson pouted some more. 

"I will go," he sniffled. He hugged them so hard he almost cracked Leo’s ribs. "Percy, be careful! Do not let monsters kill you dead!"

“And Leo Valdez,” Leo straightened up. He was a _tiny_ bit nervous when a god addressed him. “Fire is a powerful weapon and tool. Do not let your fear control you when the time comes,”

Oh. Okay.

“Yes, Lord Poseidon,” Leo didn’t bow, he never did, but he had it ingrained in him to use the lord in front of a name, and he wasn’t dying now for forgetting that.

"You should let him fight," Percy told his father. "He hates being stuck in the armory. Can't you tell?" 

Poseidon shook his head. "It is bad enough I must send you into danger. Tyson is too young. I must protect him." 

"You should trust him," Percy said. "Not try to protect him." 

Poseidon's eyes flared. Leo thought he'd gone too far, but then the god looked down at the mosaic and his shoulders sagged. On the tiles, the mermaid guy in the crawfish chariot was coming closer to the palace. 

"Oceanus approaches," Percy’s father said. "I must meet him in battle." 

Leo looked down at the tile and imagined who’d win.

"I will hold," Poseidon promised. "I will not give up my domain. Just tell me, Percy, do you still have the birthday gift I gave you last summer?" 

Percy nodded and pulled out his camp necklace. It had a bead for every summer he'd been at Camp HalfBlood, so it had a lot more than Leo’s measly one (he’d started in the winter). 

Leo knew about Percy’s gift, as Bianca had ranted about how the dude had tried to fit it in a vending machine while she was gone.

"The time is coming," he promised. "With luck, I will see you for your birthday next week, and we will have a proper celebration." 

Then the entire sea grew dark in front of them, like an inky storm was rolling in. Thunder crackled, which should've been impossible underwater. A huge icy presence was approaching. Leo sensed a wave of fear roll through the armies below them. 

"I must assume my true godly form," Poseidon said. "Go—and good luck, my son."

Leo knew better than to stick around. When Gods assumed there true form then anyone who looked at them would disintegrate.

"Good-bye, Father," Percy managed. Then he turned away, grabbed onto Leo’s collar (who shouted in protests at first) and willed the ocean currents to aid them. Water swirled around the two of them, and they shot toward the surface at speeds that would've caused any normal human to pop like a balloon. When Leo looked back, all he could see were flashes of green and blue as Percy’s father fought the Titan, and the sea itself was torn apart by the two armies.

0-0-0

When Leo and Percy made it back up to the surface, the first thing Leo did was grab onto Percy’s collar and make him swear not to tell anyone about the fire.

“You can’t! Okay! I mean, Bianca and Piper already know but Annabeth and Grover can’t!” Leo yelled in a bit of panic.

“Dude!” Percy stumbled and looked concerned. “Why are you even hiding it?”

“Look,” Leo tried to explain without going into a seven layer backstory. “Just…. Fire does more harm than good and if any one of my siblings, _biological_ siblings, found out they’d be terrified of me,”

Percy snorted as if that was a joke, before realising Leo was serious and hardening. “Leo, you’re no more of a freak than anyone else here,”

“Just! Just don’t tell anyone. Please,” Leo begged. Percy considered it for a few seconds.

“Fine,” Percy agreed and Leo sighed in relief. “But I still expected you to tell me all about the girl in the photograph,”

Leo smiled at that, because while he didn’t like to talk about his past and his fire. He could talk about Hazel all day if he wanted to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and Kudos if you enjoyed! It helps me write!  
> Next chapter: Bianca and Lee are BACK baby!


	4. "I'm very uncomfortable with the energy we've created in the studio today"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee suffers from emotionally constipated lesbians everywhere he goes. He fixes one and then another comes along.

Bianca had been at the beach when she’d heard Leo and Percy talk about Hazel.

Her first thought had been _What the fuck? He’s not supposed to be telling Percy that_.

Her next thoughts had been about the fact that her two brothers were back. So she ran forward on the beach and dive hugged both of them while speaking in rapid Italian that neither of them could understand.

“Alright, alright I get it,” Leo said, prying her off. “No more worrying you, geez,”

“If you guys would actually follow that then I wouldn’t keep on saying it,” Bianca commented back as she let go of Percy. “Let’s get you two back, I’m sure people want details of how you blew up the ship,”

Bianca blew the conch horn. A way to show that the two had arrived.

“So,” Bianca said as they walked. “What happened while I was gone?”

Leo sighed and started to look depressed. “Percy found out,”

Bianca bristeled, because even though Leo knew a _lot_ of Bianca’s secrets, he didn’t know all of them. “About what?”

“About the fire powers,” Leo said. Bianca nodded and didn’t touch any more on the subject. Knowing better than to push. Percy was confused (Bianca could tell) and obviously wanted to ask more but Bianca didn’t let him, as for the rest of the way back the only thing she talked about was what she did with Piper on their date night last week.

Together they climbed the sand dunes. A few hundred yards away, people were already streaming toward them, smiling and excited.

Leo smiled too and rushed forward, probably to over exaggerate the whole thing. Leaving Bianca and Percy alone while Leo went to deal with the crowd.

“So… I’m sure you have questions?” Bianca asked.

Percy nodded. He didn’t look _mad_ , per sa. More just annoyed at the fact people were constantly keeping secrets from him “A few,”

“He hasn’t shared everything with me either,” Bianca confessed. “It’s been years, and it’s not my place to say,”

“So you’re not going to tell me anything?” Percy asked, not letting her answer as he continued. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

Bianca bit her lip and thought about it. “I… no. I’m sorry Percy, for lying-,” about so, so many things. “But this had to be kept a secret, for my safety and Leo’s,”

“Were you ever going to tell me about Hazel then, I really don’t think your safety relies on her being a secret,” Percy said. Bianca straightened.

“How much do you know about her,” Damn Leo and his love stricken mouth.

“She’s old fashioned, she loves art and has a sketchbook that only Leo’s allowed to see, she loves to ride horses, and while Leo stayed in California she volunteered to look after some in a pasture, I _think_ she’s mortal because she’s around twelve and still hasn’t come to camp-,” Percy listed, counting off with his fingers.

“Alright, alright,” Bianca held up her hands, relieved Leo didn’t accidentally spill every single secret she’d been hiding in one fell swoop. “That’s enough,”

Percy smiled at her, cheekily might she add.

“Hazel is Leo’s girlfriend, and a very sweet girl, I approve of the relationship and, of course, it was Leo’s business whether he wanted to tell you or not,”

They stayed silent after that.

Then they weren’t alone anymore.

Chiron galloped into the pavilion first, which was easy for him since he's a white stallion from the waist down. His beard had grown wilder over the summer. He wore a green T-shirt that said MY OTHER CAR IS A CENTAUR and a bow slung over his back. 

"Percy!" he said. "Thank the gods.”

Annabeth ran in right behind him, her stormy grey eyes looking the two of them over, already knowing that Leo was alright by the way he was boisterously telling the eternity of camp what happened.

Bianca didn’t know how to feel about Annabeth, she liked the girl but… their relationship was a little bit difficult. It wasn’t as bad as Bianca and Will (wow, the one time Bianca had needed to see the infirmary she had been the absolute worst) but sometimes they ended up screaming and clashing.

"What happened?" She grabbed Percy’s arm. "Is Luke-," 

“He isn’t dead, Annabeth,” Bianca said calmly as she wretched Annabeth's hand off of Percy. “I’d know if Kronos was dead,”

Annabeth glared when she said Kronos instead of Luke.

"The ship blew up," Percy said. "He wasn't destroyed. I don't know where he is now," 

“Will you tell us what happened?” Chiron asked. Probably not trusting Leo’s side of the story, or just needing more information.

Percy explained everything. Bianca hadn’t known the original, as Beckendorf had not liked to talk about his death, but then Percy’s story had gotten alarming.

He’d started describing flashes. Once with Rachel (which could just be excused as him seeing the future) but the second was undeniable, as Percy described how he saw Beckendorf instead of Leo.

Bianca had already seen hints of this happening with Percy. She thought they’d only stay in dreams though, some place where she could just blame his subconscious. This though?

Bianca internally panicked.

She didn't comment on it though. It could just have been a little slip up and never happen again, or maybe it could be a sign from the fates. Bianca didn't know. All she hoped for was that whatever happened it would be resolved quickly and not add to another one of Bianca's very long lists of secrets and lies.

She'd ignore it. For now.

Chiron gazed down at the valley. "We must call a war council immediately, to discuss this spy, and other matters."

"Poseidon mentioned another threat," Percy said. "Something even bigger than the Princess Andromeda. I thought it might be that challenge the Titan had mentioned in my dream." 

Chiron and Annabeth exchanged looks, like they knew something Percy didn't. Bianca had been guilty of doing that multiple times too. 

"We will discuss that also," Chiron promised. 

"One more thing." Percy took a deep breath. "When I talked to my father, he said to tell you it's time. I need to know the full prophecy." 

Bianca jerked her head at the mention of the prophecy. After all, in the minds of everyone else there was still a minor _chance_ she could be it instead of Percy.

Chiron's shoulders sagged, but he didn't look surprised. "I've dreaded this day. Very well. Annabeth, we will show Bianca and Percy the truth—all of it. Let's go to the attic."

0-0-0

Bianca had never _been_ to the attic before.

Which wasn’t to say she hadn’t seen the oracle, as she had, but she’d just never seen where it had usually lay.

A ladder led up from the top of the staircase. 

"You know where it is," Chiron told Annabeth. "Bring it down, please."

Annabeth nodded. "Come on you two." 

The sun was setting outside, and while Bianca was used to creepy even she didn’t like the look of this place. Especially because of the curse her father had given the oracle. It reeked in the room, the feeling of a trapped and tortured soul.

Sometimes Bianca hated her ability to sense souls. Usually she only disliked Hell Flames due to its danger, but when you hear Silena and Clarisse screaming to each other in their sleep. And you figure out that _Oh hey! Your friend Annabeth used to be mother fucking Odysseus_ , then yeah, you start to hate the fact that you can see peoples souls and past lives.

"You remember Briares throwing those boulders?" Percy asked. 

Annabeth gave me a grudging smile. "And Grover causing a Panic?" 

Bianca watched with raised eyebrows. Was this how Grover felt all the time? Like a third wheel with sexual tension lacing the room.

Annabeth cleared her throat and looked away. "Prophecy." 

"Right." Percy put down the scimitar. "Prophecy." 

“We’d get to it if you two would stop flirting for about, like, three seconds,” Bianca whispered just loud enough to hear as she passed them. Percy choked and Annabeth looked as though she was going to die of embarrassment.

Eventually, they walked over to the window. On a three-legged stool sat the Oracle—a shrivelled female mummy in a tie-dyed dress. Tufts of black hair clung to her skull. Glassy eyes stared out of her leathery face. Just looking at her made Bianca's skin crawl. 

"I never understood this," Percy whispered. 

"What?" Annabeth asked. 

"Why it's a mummy."

Bianca winced making both heads turn to her for answers. “My fault,”

Annabeth narrowed her eyes.

“No, seriously, Hades cursed her,” Bianca gestured to the lady. “She had given the prophecy, you know the one we’re supposed to get and dad… never mind,”

She clutched to her skeleton hoodie in shame. It was the same design she always wore. Black background with actual bone prints of where her real bones would be, except this time she’d stitched on a little rainbow heart on the left side.

(Piper had gifted it to her, she’d loved it instantly)

"Let's just do our job and get out of here." Annabeth said in a mumble, if the resident ghost expert was uncomfortable she couldn’t imagine what the others felt like.

"So what now?" Percy asked as he looked at the Oracles face.

Annabeth approached the mummy and held out her palms. "O Oracle, the time is at hand. I ask for the Great Prophecy." 

Annabeth approached and unclasped one of its necklaces. She’d never paid too much attention to its jewellery before. Bianca figured it was just hippie love beads and stuff. But when Annabeth turned toward Percy and Bianca, she was holding a leather pouch—like a Native American medicine pouch on a cord braided with feathers. She opened the bag and took out a roll of parchment no bigger than her pinkie. 

"No way," Percy said. "You mean all these years, I've been asking about this stupid prophecy, and it's been right there around her neck?" 

"The time wasn't right," Annabeth said. "Believe me, Percy, I read this when I was ten years old, and I still have nightmares about it." 

"Great," Bianca said. "Can we read it now?" 

"Downstairs at the war council," Annabeth said. "Not in front of . . . you know." 

Bianca looked at the glassy eyes of the Oracle, and decided not to argue. They headed downstairs to join the others.

0-0-0

Lee Fletcher was going to kill Clarisse.

“Clarisse, for the last _fucking time_ -,” Lee tried to say. Only to pause when he heard the doors open to see Chiron, Annabeth, Percy and Bianca walk through the doors.

Lee wished he hadn’t swore now that one of his siblings was in the room. “It’s our loot. You need to accept that and move on,”

Around the table, people were trying not to laugh—the Stoll brothers, Pollux from the Dionysus cabin, Katie Gardner from Demeter. Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin was sporting a small smile on his face. The only other person who was actually _trying_ to resolve the fight was Silena.

“What is going on here?” Bianca asked. Her presence brought silence. Most of the cabins respected her and even more looked to her for guidance. That didn’t mean she couldn’t be terrifying when she wanted to be. “We have a war to fight, not a distribution of funds to sort,”

Clarisse growled. “It’s not money, it’s the fact that these self centred, arrogant pricks are taking the Ares’s cabins rightfully earned loot ,”

“ _Clarisse_ ,” Lee groaned. He was exhausted. So tired.

Seriously, all he wanted to do with his life was be a therapist and own nine dogs and _maybe_ one cat while living in his house with Silena as his roommate (he’d been ten, don’t judge him).

Nope, instead he was dealing with _this_ utter bullshit.

“I’m only here because Silena _asked_ me to be,” Clarisse eyed Lee up and down, as if seeing how well she could fight him. It was hard to believe they’d won the tournament last summer together. “If she hadn’t I’d be back in my cabin,”

Lee knew Silena had meant well. She wanted to help fix things but _seriously_ he’d rather she’d taken him clubbing or something.

"What are you talking about?" Percy demanded.

Silena tried to explain. "Clarisse has refused to speak to any of us, well, except for me and Chris, until the, um, issue is resolved. She hasn't spoken for three days."

"It's been wonderful," Travis Stoll said wistfully. 

“Not, _helping_ ,” Silena hissed out.

"What issue?" Percy asked. 

Clarisse turned to Chiron. "You're in charge, right? Does my cabin get what we want or not?"

Chiron shuffled his hooves. "My dear, as I've already explained, Lee is correct. Apollo's cabin has the best claim. Besides, we have more important matters-," 

"Sure," Clarisse snapped. "Always more important matters than what Ares needs. We're just supposed to show up and fight when you need us, and not complain!" 

“Clarisse, _please_ ,” Silena didn’t use charmspeak, it would be too big of a betrayal of trust but some part of Lee wished she did. “Now’s not the time to fight about this,”

“There’s never going to _be_ a time,” Clarisse hissed out, Silena didn’t look hurt, but Lee could see Clarisse's eyes flash with guilt and remembrance, before she shook her head as if dismissing the thoughts. “Maybe I should ask Mr D-,”

"As you know," Chiron interrupted, his tone slightly angry now, "our director, Dionysus, is busy with the war. He can't be bothered with this."

"I see," Clarisse said. "And the senior counsellors? Are any of you going to side with me?"

Nobody was smiling now. None of them met Clarisse's eyes. Except for Silena, who held her gaze with fiery eyes, ones that Lee rarely saw and usually only in flashes, before whispering so small that only Clarisse and Lee could hear (God of music, sensitive ears).

“Are you going to let your pride get the better of you for a second time, Achilles?”

Clarisse stopped. She turned to Silena with a blank face, who stared back. Lee could see his friend looked so much older than he knew her as. “What did you just call me?”

It wasn’t quiet, everyone could hear that and they stayed silent. Probably expecting Silena to have called Clarisse a bitch or something.

Silena’s fire left her as she widened her eyes and cupped a hand over her mouth. Like she hadn’t been the one speaking. Silena stared at Clarisse, horrified, before turning to her attention to Lee, pleading for an out.

Lee couldn’t give it to her in time.

Clarisse growled. Realising Silena wasn’t going to answer. “Okay. Fine.” Clarisse threw her knife on the Ping-Pong table. "All of you can fight this war without Ares. Until I get satisfaction, no one in my cabin is lifting a finger to help. Have fun dying."

Now, it was one thing to be petty and curse, shout, insult. But gods damn to not join the war out of _hubris_ and a mixture of stupidity was something Lee really didn’t know was possible.

Except he did.

Because he’d read about it. He’d heard and he knew.

Suddenly, every single longing look Silena had given Clarisse made five times more sense. The fact that she’d called Clarisse Achilles made sense and the fact Bianca looked like she wanted to yell at them to ‘Fucking kiss already!’ made a lot more sense.

He couldn’t believe he was going to do this. Michael was going to be so mad, but you know what, screw him. Lives were at stake and Lee was not going to play the Agamemnon in this story.

Lee reached for Clarisse's wrist before she could leave.

“You win,”

“Excuse me?”

“Fine, you win,” Lee breathed out. “Take the stupid chariot, but you still have to be on the front lines,”

A couple of jaws dropped but Silena looked thankful and at the moment that was all that mattered.

“Lee-,” Beckendorf obviously looked as though he was going to try to persuade him not to.

“Leave,” Lee waved at Clarisse. “As long as you don’t back out of fighting it’s all yours. Tell your cabin mates you won, I’ll tell mine we didn’t later,”

Clarisse looked over Lee sceptically (he was like, the only one of his siblings who could lie) before believing him. “Sure, you got a deal,”

They shook, before Clarisse left the room triumphant and smug.

Lee buried his face in his hands. He felt like he was on public display. It only didn’t feel so torturous when Silena put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner.

“Did you seriously just…?” Katie Gardener trailed off.

“Even the pride Lee Fletcher has been humbled,” Travis whistled. Not reading the room at _all_. “That was some move,”

“Let’s just get on with the meeting,” Bianca cut in. She walked over and stood next to him as a comfort.

It was weird that the girl hadn’t interrupted the argument like she did sometimes, she’d seemed to have thought that it would have been better if she hadn’t.

Lee groaned before letting his hands slid down his face, shaking a bit, and then popping back into full motion. He couldn’t be moping about the loss of one item in a war when that thing was probably going to get destroyed.

"Now," Chiron started, looking pleased that the issue had been resolved. "If you please, counsellors. Percy has brought something I think you should hear. Percy—the Great Prophecy."

“Why isn’t Nico here?” Lee whispered to Bianca.

“He already heard it, and has to babysit Mrs O’Leary as punishment for… some unnamed things,” Bianca whispered back.

Lee raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound like a punishment,”

“Hey, I have my methods, you have yours,” Bianca had a grin on her face. Before she turned serious again, after all she was getting the prophecy of either her or Percy’s doom.

Annabeth handed Percy the parchment. His fingers fumbled with the string as he uncurled the paper, trying not to rip it, and began to read:

" _A half-blood of the eldest dogs_ . . ."

"Er, Percy?" Annabeth interrupted. "That's gods. Not dogs." 

"Oh, right," Percy said. Being dyslexic was one mark of a demigod. " _A half-blood of the eldest gods . . . shall reach sixteen against all odds . . ._ "

Percy hesitated as he at the next lines." _And see the world in endless sleep, The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap_." 

"Percy," Chiron urged. "Read the rest." 

" _A single choice shall. . . shall end his days. Olympus to per-pursue-,_ " 

" _Preserve_ ," Annabeth said gently. "It means to save."

"I know what it means," Percy grumbled. " _Olympus to preserve or raze_."

The room was silent. Finally Connor Stoll said, "Raise is good, isn't it?" 

"Not raise," Silena said. Releasing a sort of information she’d only known because she was the spy. (Now she worked for camp, not Kronos). "R-a-z-e means destroy." 

"Obliterate," Annabeth said. "Annihilate. Turn to rubble." 

"Got it." Percy looked horrified. 

Bianca sounded sick. "Thanks."

Lee rubbed her back comfortingly. She was really going to need it.

Chiron closed his eyes as if he were saying a prayer. In horse form, his head almost brushed the lights in the rec room. "You see now, Percy, Bianca, why we thought it best not to tell you the whole prophecy. You two have had enough on your shoulders-,"

"Without realizing I was going to die in the end anyway?" Percy said. "Yeah, I get it." 

Chiron gazed at him sadly. The guy was three thousand years old. He'd seen hundreds of heroes die. He might not like it, but he was used to it. He probably knew better than to try to reassure Percy. 

"Percy," Annabeth said. "You know prophecies always have double meanings. It might not literally mean you die." 

"Sure," Percy said. "A single choice shall end his days. That has tons of meanings, right?"

"Maybe we can stop it," Lee offered. "The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. Maybe we could find this cursed blade and destroy it. Sounds like Kronos's scythe, right?" 

“No, it’s definitely not that,” Bianca said. Still not explaining how she knew, but everyone could understand she did.

“It could not even be about Percy, it could be about Bianca or Nico,” Beckendorf mentioned, deep in thought.

“Are you suggesting that it’d be better if me or Nico suffered _that_ rather than Percy?” Bianca looked honestly offended.

“No! Gods No! We just need to take that into account-,”

“I’m kidding,” Bianca stopped sounding so serious just for a second. “I know you wouldn’t,”

“You ass,” Lee whispered to her, while Bianca elbowed him in the ribs.

"Perhaps we should let Percy and Bianca think about these lines," Chiron said. "They need time-," 

"No." Percy folded up the prophecy and shoved it into his pocket. "I don't need time. If I die, I die. I can't worry about that, right?" 

Annabeth's hands were shaking a little.

"Let's move on," Percy said. "We've got other problems. We've got a spy." 

Three people in the room froze. Chiron kept a surprisingly good mask while Bianca looked like she’d already heard.

Lee sweat dropped.

“A spy?” Katie asked cautiously. Lee took a step back away from her. He’d had a fear for Demeter children ever since Meg the crotchkicker.

Percy explained what he’d saw. How Kronos had a pendant to communicate with someone at camp and keep ‘always ahead,’ which, unless there was another spy, was ridiculous. Silena had given an influx of wrong information that helped keep so many half bloods alive it was ridiculous.

"Well," Connor Stoll said uncomfortably, "we've suspected there might a spy for years, right? Somebody kept passing information to Luke—like the location of the Golden Fleece a couple of years ago. It must be somebody who knew him well." 

Maybe subconsciously, he glanced at Annabeth. She'd known Luke better than anyone, of course, but Connor looked away quickly. "Um, I mean, it could be anybody." 

Silena looked uncomfortably guilty, but of course she’d looked like that since Clarisse so nobody noticed.

"Yes." Katie Gardner frowned at the Stoll brothers. She'd disliked them ever since they'd decorated the grass roof of the Demeter cabin with chocolate Easter bunnies. "Like one of Luke's siblings." 

“Woah, okay there,” Lee stepped in between the two parties to stop their glaring. “We’ve got no proof in accusations, all we know is that there is a spy,”

"He's right," Pollux said. "Accusing each other doesn't help. We need to keep our eyes open for a silver necklace with a scythe charm. If Kronos had one, the spy probably does too." 

Lee looked at Silena in confusion. She’d always used a mirror when she’d contacted Kronos, Silena mouthed _upgrade_ and that was the end of it.

“We need to find this spy before we plan our next operation. Blowing up the Princess Andromeda won't stop Kronos forever." Beckendorf said. As if he didn’t already know that Silena was the spy.

No indeed," Chiron said. "In fact his next assault is already on the way." 

Percy scowled. "You mean the 'bigger threat' Poseidon mentioned?"

Lee's expression lifted. Percy had talked to his dad?! Lee had last done it when he was around 12, and even then it had been for a quest.

"Percy," Chiron said, "we didn't want to tell you until you returned to camp. You and Bianca needed a break with your...mortal friends." 

"Tell me what's happened," Percy said.

Chiron picked up a bronze goblet from the snack table. He tossed water onto the hot plate where we usually melted nacho cheese. Steam billowed up, making a rainbow in the fluorescent lights. Chiron fished a golden drachma out of his pouch, tossed it through the mist, and muttered, "O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show us the threat." 

The mist shimmered. Lee saw Mount St. Helens. As he watched, the side of the mountain exploded. Fire, ash, and lava rolled out. A newscaster's voice was saying "-even larger than last year's eruption, and geologists warn that the mountain may not be done."

Lee knew all about last year's eruption. Percy had caused it, and had sent Bianca into a panicked muck for two weeks before he’d come back crashing his own funeral. But this explosion was much worse. The mountain tore itself apart, collapsing inward, and an enormous form rose out of the smoke and lava like it was emerging from a manhole.

Lee hoped the Mist would keep the humans from seeing it clearly, because what he saw would've caused panic and riots across the entire United States. The giant was bigger than anything Lee had ever encountered. Even his demigod eyes couldn't make out its exact form through the ash and fire, but it was vaguely humanoid and so huge it could've used the Chrysler Building as a baseball bat. The mountain shook with a horrible rumbling, as if the monster were laughing. 

"It's him," Percy said. "Typhon." 

Lee did not need the obvious stated to him.

Chiron simply nodded. "The most horrible monster of all, the biggest single threat the gods ever faced. He has been freed from under the mountain at last. But this scene is from two days ago. Here is what is happening today." 

Chiron waved his hand and the image changed. I saw a bank of storm clouds rolling across the Midwest plains. Lightning flickered. Lines of tornadoes destroyed everything in their path—ripping up houses and trailers, tossing cars around like Matchbox toys. 

"Monumental floods," an announcer was saying. "Five states declared disaster areas as the freak storm system sweeps east, continuing its path of destruction." 

The cameras zoomed in on a column of storm bearing down on some Midwest city. I couldn't tell which one. Inside the storm Lee could see the giant—just small glimpses of his true form: a smoky arm, a dark clawed hand the size of a city block. His angry roar rolled across the plains like a nuclear blast. Other smaller forms darted through the clouds, circling the monster. He saw flashes of light, and realized the giant was trying to swat them. Lee squinted and thought he saw a golden chariot flying into the blackness. Then some kind of huge bird—a monstrous owl—dived in to attack the giant. 

"Are those . . . the gods?" Bianca asked. 

"Yes, Bianca," Chiron said. "They have been fighting him for days now, trying to slow him down. But Typhon is marching forward—toward New York. Toward Olympus." 

Percy let it sink in. "How long until he gets here?" 

"Unless the gods can stop him? Perhaps five days. Most of the Olympians are there . . . except your father, who has a war of his own to fight." 

"But then who's guarding Olympus?" 

Connor Stoll shook his head. "If Typhon gets to New York, it won't matter who's guarding Olympus." 

"It's a trick," Percy said. Lee didn’t like the fact that there was _more_ bad news. "We have to warn the gods. Something else is going to happen." 

Chiron looked at him gravely. "Something worse than Typhon? I hope not."

"We have to defend Olympus," Percy insisted. "Kronos has another attack planned." 

"He did," Travis Stoll reminded Percy. "But you sunk his ship." 

Everyone was looking at him. They wanted some good news. They wanted to believe that at least Percy had given them a little bit of hope.

Silena would divulge to the people that knew (which meant they’d have to bring in Piper) about what the titan was planning. Though some part of Lee wondered whether it would be wiser to at least tell either Percy or Annabeth what was going on.

"Maybe you're right," Percy said, though he didn't sound like he believed it. 

"Well," Chiron said, "I think that's enough for one night." He waved his hand and the steam dissipated. The stormy battle of Typhon and the gods disappeared. 

"That's an understatement," Percy muttered. And the war council adjourned. 

Everyone left, including Bianca to go pick up her girlfriend to bring in and talk.

That left the original three from the Trimulative quest and Chiron.

Now, the topic Lee really wanted to discuss was the fact that Clarisse was Achilles and what the fuck Silena and him were going to do with that information.

But Beckendorf was here.

So no, that was not what he was going to talk about.

“Should we tell them?” Beckendorf asked. Looking mostly at Chiron for advice. “I mean, Percy should probably know but… after everything he’s under a lot of stress,”

“But he is also the leader,” Silena reasoned. “And I’ve _saved_ more lives then hurt,” 

Silena stressed that out a lot. After giving information directly to Bianca, who already had such a wide network of informants (usually from the dead) that no one would question how she got the information, and also giving false information to Kronos she was constantly making sure that she wasn’t causing more problems then solving. “So he’ll understand that we’ve kept it a secret in fear of there being more spies than one,”

“And now that we’ve swept and checked,” Lee continued. “We can tell him without any issues of being found out,”

It sounded like a good idea. All of them looked to Chiron for his approval.

Chiron shook his head. “Telling Percy would only burden him, he has his own path he needs to take soon,”

“His own path?”

“Plans are in motion,” Chiron said in calmish voice. “And nothing you three need to concern yourself with,”

Lee sat down putting a hand to his forehead. It really sucked how many secrets there were, after all Percy was the leader, and probably the one people would be following into battle. Well, him, Bianca and...

“What about Annabeth?” Lee mentioned. “She is one of the leaders, she doesn’t have the world hanging off her back like Percy and she doesn’t run off to do rouge things like Bianca, she’d probably know how to plan with the information efficiently,”

“Telling Annabeth would be a good idea, in my opinion,”

The door opened. Revealing Bianca, her hair tied back in a braid (her usual sword hairclip helping to keep it controlled), wearing jeans, her usual hoodie (with a little stitched on heart) and some hunting boots, with Piper McLean, her girlfriend who had her hair cut in a bob that only reached her shoulders but was fluffy and well kept, was currently wearing a flannel jacket, unbuttoned and with a camp half blood tank top underneath, along with some shorts and a belt that held her newest weapon, Katoptris.

Katoptris was a dagger that once belonged to Helen of Troy, however it became Piper McLean's dagger after she selected it to be her own, and she used it for battle as well as seeing visions of the future in it.

Piper hadn’t told anyone what future she saw in the knife, but hopefully it would help them come to a decision of who to tell.

“Look who it is,” Lee said with a smile on his face. “The new camp couple,”

Piper smiled brightly as she laced hands with Bianca. Before turning serious. “I wasn’t at the meeting, but Bianca explained on the way, so no need to recap,”

“You think Annabeth is who we should tell about the… spy situation?” Bianca asked for lack of a better name.

“Lee listed off some of the reasons, he isn’t exactly quiet when he’s passionate,” Piper smirked. Lee didn’t blush but it was close. “So I think we should give it a shot,”

Bianca nodded. “Personally, I’d continue to keep it hidden, but I can see why you’d want to tell Annabeth,”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Silena offered. Her opinion mattered the most in this situation, as she was the spy herself. “If there is one thing Annabeth knows, it is how to plan ahead, and right now, because sometimes we can’t contact you Bianca, we’ve kind of been lacking that,”

Bianca shrugged. “Fair,”

“So that’s it then?” Beckendorf asked. “We’re going to tell Annabeth and only Annabeth?”

Chiron thought about it, Lee knew he'd say yes though. Annabeth was always one of Chiron's favourites. He nodded. Signalling that the meeting was over. 

And so it was decided. Meaning Lee now had the time to talk about Clarisse with Silena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "She has a boyfriend Luna, you can't force Silena and Beckendorf to break up because of some parallels between Patroclus and Silena-,"  
> "Oh will you look at that they're rebirths,"  
> "Luna-,"  
> "Look at that, they love each other but didn't know how to express it and chose the easier option to fall for the heteronormative couple,"  
> "You can't just make everyone lesbians Luna!"  
> "I can and I will!"


	5. Solving situations while simultaneously stressing (say that five times fast)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somebody has a crush

“He was so adorable today,” 

Will was sitting on his bed with a dreamy look in his eye. Hands propped on his chin, Austin had once tried to wave in front of his face only to find it’d had no affect. “I saw him playing with Mrs O’Leary and-,”

“Did his eyes sparkle like the night sky?” Kayla said absently.

“Or did his laugh sound like rainbows,” Michael smiled for the first time since he’d been told they didn’t have the chariot anymore.

“Did his smile light up the sun?” Austin recited.

The cabin members snickered as Will scowled at them while huffing. “Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want assholes,”

“It’s just getting a little predictable,” Kayla said while smiling. Usually Lee would have put a stop to the teasing then and there, but he was out at the Aphrodite cabin, talking with Silena in private.

“You know Bianca would kill you if she ever found out,” Michael brought up, popping that out of nowhere just to be an ass, which made a chill run down Will Solace’s.

The thought of Bianca finding out was absolutely terrifying. See, back last summer Will had been fine with the underworld girl, until the tournament in the woods. Bianca had insulted his shooting ability and it had escalated from there.

At first it was nothing more than snide comments about their archery skills, then it was glaring and comments and then it was being one of the absolutely worst patients Will had ever seen come into his infirmary.

He could not believe Nico was related to her.

He’d met Nico last summer, through a convoluted sort of event. Lou Ellen and Cecil had been friends after the tournament, and had joined Will into their gang after a broken arm from Cecil.

Then Nico had been introduced by Lou Ellen.

Will had been expecting a mini Bianca. He’d kept his tongue, per Lou Ellen's request. Then he’d found out that Nico was actually really cute. He loved McDonalds, he’d played mythomagic at one point and Cecil had found out that the kid had once wanted to desperately be a pirate.

So yeah, he really didn’t know how the two were related.

“Oh gods don’t remind me,” Will shuddered again. If Bianca found out she’d probably chase him down with a chainsaw just to cut his dick off.

“You know, he might not even swing that way,” Kayla was hanging upside down from her top bunk. “I heard rumors from Mitchell that Nico might have a crush on Annabeth,”

Austin slapped her in the arm.

“Hey dude what the-oh,” Kalya calmed down when she looked at the panicked expression dawning on Will. “But, _who knows_ remember when Lee thought he was straight,”

Austin grinned. “And then he had that thing with Malcom for a while,”

“Oh gods,” Michael groaned. “Don’t remind me, he was absolutely awful about it,”

Will took in a deep breath before letting it out.

The door slammed open to reveal Lee tripping into the room kicking at one of the harpies. So conversation quickly changed from there.

0-0-0

Bianca called Calypso that night before she went to bed.

Calypso was a titan, but ever since Nico had saved her from Ogygia she hadn’t fit in. So Bianca and the rest of the gang had taken her on a road trip. Then Cal had stayed in New Rome to become the auger and help with the war effort.

She picked up on the first ring.

“Hi,” Bianca said softly, if she was too loud she could wake someone up. Even if she was in a different cabin she was right next to the Apollo cabin. “How’re you and Hazel doing?”

“Good, good. She misses Leo but that's nothing new?”

“And how are things at camp?”

“Personal project or invasion project?”

“Both,”

“Reyna’s been fine. I’ve been helping her through some things, apparently on one of Reyna’s quests to get some imperial gold torpedoes Venus had said _you will not find love where you wish or where you hope. No demigod shall heal your heart._ ”

“Wow,” _what a dick move._ Bianca thought.

“I know right, and she doesn’t _know_ I’m not a demigod so she doesn’t feel like she’ll have any hope in the romance department, but the thing is. A demigod could still love her, it's just that her heart needs to be fixed,” Bianca couldn’t see it, but she imagined that Calypso was looking down at her nails.

“So that’s your mission?” Bianca questioned. “That’s your project? Heal a broken girl's heart while simultaneously setting her up with Jason, playing the ultimate third wheel?”

Calypso hummed. “Yep, pulling a Grover on them,”

“Honestly, today has just made me sympathise with Grover _so much_ ,”

“I know! He can read emotions so-anyway, that's not the point of this conversation,” Calypso coughed. “Now, I’m sure you really want me to get onto the goods of the war plan,”

“It’s seven days until Percy’s birthday, how are you going to handle things while doomsday starts in new york?”

“We’re going to invade Saturn's base,” Calypso said. Bianca smiled at the thought.

0-0-0

( _“Put me in your armor, and I will lead the Myrmidons. They will think it is you.”_

_Screaming. A constant screaming. That is always in the background._

_He stabs Sarpedon. Though that is not the thing that kills him._

_Apollo grins._

_Hector approaches like a nightmare. Bringing the inevitable._

_Patroclus thinks Achilles right before his end._ )

Silena wakes up with her hands shaking. She sighs and buries them into her face hoping she can have one day where _he_ doesn’t try again.

Patroclus just wants Achilles, but Achilles is Clarisse.

Clarisse has Chris. She might know or she might not. Even then she’s _moved on_.

So why couldn’t Silena do the same?

0-0-0

Bianca was too fast sometimes.

She’d speed along. Trying to keep the world on her shoulders, trying to keep everything according to plan. But everything wasn’t.

Honestly, most of her problems were being ruined by Percy’s unpredictability. The Romans were easy to keep from everyone _except_ Percy, Percy had found out about Leo’s fire and he was probably going to find out about Bianca’s most well kept secret. A fact that only four beings knew in the world.

The fact that she was a time traveler.

The fact that she had failed. And died. And stayed dead.

It’s why she needed Piper.

While Leo and Nico were great, they encouraged her to continue. Which was a good thing fundamentally, but not at the expense of her own heath.

Those two couldn’t see how bad it was, after all they had enough self destructive habits to fill a book.

Piper was good for her though. Too good.

She gets her to slow down. To remember that Bianca can lean on others. That even if she has secrets she’s not alone.

Bianca really did not deserve her.

With all her lies and deceit she didn’t deserve Piper.

Piper deserved the world and instead she got this piece of shit-.

“Nope,” Piper said firmly. They were both sitting on the beach, it was early morning and Bianca had wanted some alone time after discussing war plans with Calypso. “Nuh uh Angel Face, I know that look. You’re calling yourself a piece of shit in your head aren’t you?”

“...No?”

Piper grabbed her head gently and tilted it towards her face, Bianca could see a kaleidoscope. As if Piper's future lay undecided, but when the two looked at eachother, it always stayed on a chestnut brown, warm and comforting, for longer than the others.

“Repeat after me,” Piper commanded without charmspeak. “People love me and want me to be happy,”

Bianca grumbled and rolled her eyes before smiling softly and repeating. “People love me and want me to be happy,”

“There you go!” Piper kissed her cheek as a reward. She had a habit of kissing Bianca's freckles. “Now you know the truth,”

Bianca chuckled and lost her worries for just a bit longer.

The shit show would start soon but, at least for now, she’d have Piper to keep her grounded.

“Ti amo da impazzire,” Bianca whispered. Leaning in and resting her forehead on Pipers.

“I love you too, Angel face,”

0-0-0

Percy had headed toward the sword-fighting arena. Needing a break, and wanting to see an old friend. Only to fall over and nearly drown in dog drool.

"WOOF!" 

Percy was flat on the ground. With a paw on his chest and no way to get Mrs O’Leary the hellhound off him.

Mrs O’Leary was Bianca’s pet hellhound, gifted to her by Daedalus. There were only really two people, other than Bianca and Percy, that looked after the giant puppy were Nico and Beckendorf.

Beckendorf was probably Mrs. O’Leary’s favourite too. He had smelted Mrs. O'Leary's favorite bronze chewing bone. He'd forged her collar with the little smiley face and a crossbones name tag. So it was no surprise that Beckendorf was with her.

"Ow!" Percy said. "Hey, girl. Good to see you too. Ow!"

“Mrs O’Leary off!” Beckendorf called, and immediately the hellhound moved. Letting Percy actually breathe. “Sorry about that, she’s been really excited recently,”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Percy waved off as he stretched his back. “So how have you been?”

“Fine,” Beckendorf said.

“Are you and Silena going well?” Percy asked.

Beckendorf sighed. “...It’s rough. She’s sleeping less, more stressed, she won’t tell me what’s going on but she’ll tell Lee, I’m worried she doesn’t trust me-,”

Beckendorf was cut off by a glitchy sound, one that made Percy clutch his ears to stop ringing. Then Percy looked up to see Beckendorf had disappeared without a trace, as if he wasn’t there in the first place.

He looked at Mrs O’Leary. She was still there, looking depressed and lonely. Which she only did if she’d been along for long periods of time.

Percy looked around trying to find out where he could have gone. Instead he saw something that made his heart stop.

That was smoke.

A funeral pyre.

Then it fizzled out. The smoke flickered before extinguishing and going as if it was never there. Percy could hear the ringing and once it disappeared Beckendorf’s voice started again.

“-Percy!” Beckendorf yelled.

“Yeah?” Percy asked.

“You spaced out on me,” Beckendorf said. “Are you okay?”

Percy knew everyone would think he was insane if he said a thing. Either that or going crazy under the stress of everything. “I’m fine, look, I’ll go take Mrs. O’Leary out to the bathroom, she looks like she needs to go,”

“Percy-,”

Percy opened the gate, the hellhound bounded out into the woods. “Bye Beckendorf!”

He ran off, feeling as if he was going insane.

0-0-0

Nico stood in the middle of the cloven field with his sister Bianca, Juniper and a very old and fat Satyr.

He’d only come here because of Bianca’s request to talk there, mostly about Percy's plan and whether he would accept it, but after some down-railing from Juniper the man himself showed up chasing after Bianca’s pet hellhound, Mrs O’Leary.

Nico nodded when he saw Percy, trying extremely hard not to blush.

His emotions were still confusing. Even if his emotions for Percy had diminished (and his crush for Will grown) Percy was still someone who made Nico want to stare at for hours.

Nico went back to scratching Mrs. O'Leary's ears. She sniffed his legs like he was the most interesting thing since rib-eye steaks.

Then the dog went up to her true owner. Bianca coddled her.

The old satyr didn't look nearly so happy. "Will someone—what is this underworld creature doing in my forest!" He waved his arms and trotted on his hooves as if the grass were hot. "You there, Percy Jackson! Is this your beast?"

“It’s mine actually, Leneus,” Bianca said. Raising an eyebrow. “I’m sure it’s fine he’s here,”

Leneus gulped. Bianca was one of the most intimidating demigods there were. Because she was slow to anger, but when she did there was nowhere you could run that you would be safe.

"Make it go away! Juniper, I will not help you under these circumstances!" 

Percy," Juniper turned to the son of Poseidon and sniffled. "I was just asking about Grover. I know something's happened. He wouldn't stay gone this long if he wasn't in trouble. I was hoping that Leneus-," 

"I told you!" the satyr protested. "You are better off without that traitor." 

Juniper stamped her foot. "He is not a traitor! He's the bravest satyr ever, and I want to know where he is!"

"WOOF!" Leneus's knees started knocking. 

"I . . . I won't answer questions with this hellhound sniffing my tail!" 

Nico and Bianca were trying not to laugh. Nico began to speak. "I'll walk the dog,"

He whistled, and Mrs. O'Leary bounded after him and Bianca to the far end of the grove. 

Nico began to speak in Italian, even though he was pretty sure the others wouldn’t eavesdrop.

“ _S_ _o, we’re going to get him the Achilles curse, right?_ ” Nico asked.

Bianca and him had been talking about it, planning, trying to find a way to convince Percy that this was literally the _only_ way that they would win against Kronos.

The two of them both agreed about that sentiment. No matter how much Nico argued that Percy wouldn't agree if he found out he’d have to talk to Hades (He was already so cautious and unwilling to do so) they both agreed Percy needed to get the Achilles curse.

“ _You mean now? As in now now?_ ” Bianca asked. Nico nodded. “ _I think so, we’ve only got a few days and both of us have been procrastinating from pushing him further, so now’s probably the best time_ ,”

Nico walked back to Percy. "Good job, Percy. Judging from the trail of goat pellets, I'd say you shook him up pretty well." 

Bianca snorted.

Percy knew why they were here, but he tried to smile. "Welcome back. Did you come by just to see Juniper?" 

“Um, no,” Nico said. “I’m sure you know why I’m here,”

“But, Nico, Bianca, you are children Hades and all. Are you sure you haven't heard anything about Grover?" Juniper mentioned, still wanting to know the health of her boyfriend.

Nico shifted his weight. "Juniper, like I tried to tell you . . . even if Grover died, he would reincarnate into something else in nature. I can't sense things like that, only mortal souls."

Juniper looked at Bianca. Bianca sighed, she'd always been better with things related to souls, but she didn't always like it. “Grover's alive, but I don’t know where he is,”

Nico knew how to read his sister better than anyone, even Piper. He knew when she was lying, and at the moment she most certainly.

"But if you do hear anything?" she pleaded, putting her hand on Bianca's arm. "Anything at all?"

Bianca's cheeks got even brighter red. "Uh, you bet. I'll keep my ears open." 

"We'll find him, Juniper," Percy promised. "Grover's alive, I'm sure. There must be a simple reason why he hasn't contacted us."

She nodded glumly. "I hate not being able to leave the forest. He could be anywhere, and I'm stuck here waiting. Oh, if that silly goat has gotten himself hurt-,"

Mrs. O'Leary bounded back over and took an interest in Juniper's dress. Juniper yelped. "Oh, no you don't! I know about dogs and trees. I'm gone!"

She went poof into green mist. Mrs. O'Leary looked disappointed, but she lumbered off to find another target, leaving Nico, Bianca and Percy alone. 

Nico tapped his sword on the ground. A tiny mound of animal bones erupted from the dirt. They knit themselves together into a skeletal field mouse and scampered off. At this point it was getting to be a habit.

"I had a vision you were on Mount Tam," Percy told Nico. "Was that-,”

"Real," he said. "I didn't mean to be spying on the Titans, but I was in the neighbourhood." 

"Doing what?" 

Nico tugged at his sword belt. "Just… some stuff about my family."

It wasn’t _technically_ a lie. He had been talking to Hazel, Reyna and Calypso. It wasn’t even a war effort visit it was more of a scenic visit. He had spent most of his time asking Hazel about how she’d been and what was happening with her.

(Reyna has her best friend at the moment. While Cal and Hazel acted like sisters, which was a good thing since Bianca rarely had the time to go for long distances to see Hazel, even though she probably missed her immensely)

"So how did it go?" Percy asked. "Any luck?" 

Nico already knew everything. While the only thing he’d like was to know who his mother was, get back the memories he had of her, he was pretty content with what he had.

(And he didn’t want to push Bianca any further. He felt bad for how far he’d already done. Forcing her to relive her trauma was something he _deeply_ regretted)

“ _Percival_ ,” Bianca had a smug look on her face as Percy shuddered. “Stop trying to distract us from the topic at hand,”

Percy looked at both of them, seemingly thinking it was unfair he had to argue without backup.

"You guys, I don't know," Percy said. "It seems pretty extreme." 

"You've got Typhon coming in, what . . . a week? Most of the other Titans are unleashed now and on Kronos's side. Maybe it's time to think extreme." Nico commented.

“You’re really not going to win without using it,” Bianca crossed her arms.

Percy looked back at camp.

"They're no match for the Titan army," Nico said. "You know that. This comes down to you and Luke. And there's only one way you can beat Luke." 

Percy was still unsure. Nico needed to convince him or else he could _die_.

"We can give you the same power," Nico urged. "You heard the Great Prophecy. Unless you want to have your soul reaped by a cursed blade . . ." He looked at his sister, who was uncomfortable, but not asking him to stop.

You can't prevent a prophecy," Percy said. 

"But you can fight it." Nico insisted. "You can become invincible." 

"Maybe we should wait. Try to fight without-," 

"No!" Nico snarled. "It has to be now!" 

Bianca calmly put a hand on his shoulder, Nico let out a breath and all his tension released. It was now his sisters turn to talk.

“Percy,” Bianca was calm, her voice melodic and straightforward. Trying to clear up as much confusion as possible while still keeping every secret she had perfectly in place (it was one of the few things he _truly_ disliked about her. The fact you thought she was honest but instead she lied with a silver tongue. She used to be horrible at lying, then she'd had to do it multiple upon multiple times, even asking the Hermes kids for some advice. Now she could tell people the sky was green and they'd believe her within seconds).

“When the fighting starts, we won't be able to make the journey. This is our last chance, I know you’re scared of what could go wrong but if we don’t do it then it will be worse,” Bianca said earnestly.

Nico stared at Percy to see what he thought. Eventually he nodded.

"All right," Percy decided. "What do we do first?" 

Nico smiled, but before he could talk Bianca interrupted with a proposition he’d rather wished she hadn’t. “Well first things first we need to give you one final warning-,”

“We really shouldn’t-,”

“Nico he _already_ agreed-,”

“What is it?” Percy asked tiredly.

Bianca cleared her throat, waiting for Nico to try to interrupt or lie again, but Nico decided not to. Even if he thought it was a bad idea Nico could tell there was no way he was getting out of it now.

“We need you to go to the underworld for this,” Bianca said. “As you probably know, but we also need our fathers permission to do this, as it is his territory,”

“Oh, joy,” Percy muttered.

“He wanted to talk to you, that was his only condition,” Bianca said it like it was a warning.

Nico knew his father was distant and not the best parent. But it was still fixable. So he could never really understand why Bianca hated him so much. As she really shouldn’t have hated him, she was his favourite.

Except she did.

Huh.

“But knowing him he’ll probably try to lock you up, so please keep that in mind,”

Percy gulped and nodded. Probably trying not to think about Hades. Nico decided to get on with the plan.

"First we'll need to retrace Luke's steps. We need to know more about his past, his childhood."

Percy shuddered. "Why do we need to know about that?"

"I'll explain when we get there," Bianca dismissed. "Nico has already tracked down his mother. She lives in Connecticut."

Percy stared at them. "Luke ran away when he was really young. I didn't think his mom was alive." 

"Oh, she's alive."

"Okay . . ." Percy said. "So how do we get to Connecticut? I can call Blackjack—" 

"No." Nico scowled. "Pegasi don't like me and Bianca, and the feeling is mutual. But there's no need for flying." He whistled, and Mrs. O'Leary came loping out of the woods. 

"My dog can help." Nico patted her head. 

“She’s actually _my dog_ -,”

“Once you start actually being responsible for her she can be yours,” Nico turned and whispered in Mrs. O'Leary's ear. She tilted her head, suddenly alert. Then he turned to his sister and Percy. "Hop on board,"

Percy climbed onto her back and held her collar. Bianca sitting behind Percy and Nico behind Bianca 

"This will make her very tired," Bianca warned, "so you can't do it often. And it works best at night. But all shadows are part of the same substance. There is only one darkness, and creatures of the Underworld can use it as a road, or a door." 

“I’ve already shadow travelled before,” Percy reminded. Talking about the Calypso thing. Nico really didn’t need to be reminded of his first try of shadow travelling now.

“Yeah, but we’re using the dog today,” Nico said. “Tell her where to go. Tell her Westport, the home of May Castellan." 

Percy leaned down to Mrs. O'Leary's ear. "Okay, girl. Uh, can you take me to Westport, Connecticut? May Castellan's place?" Mrs. O'Leary sniffed the air. She looked into the gloom of the forest. Then she bounded forward, straight into an oak tree. Just before they hit, they passed into shadows as cold as the dark side of the moon.

0-0-0

Silena had asked for support in dealing with Annabeth. So Lee had been up to the task.

They had decided to talk inside the Apollo cabin, since all the members were out, even Will, who had decided to go out with Lou Ellen and Cecil (but not Nico, and Lee knew this because Will had been acting disappointed before he left, god that kids crush was hopeless).

The first one to come into the room was Silena, who as soon as she saw the room had no one else in it dropped her camp counselor act and became her real person. Silena began to fan her face.

“She’s going to kill me-,”

“You’ll be fine,” Lee assured, taking her hand and squeezing it. Silena took out a breath and squeezed out. “You’re sweating,”

“I don’t _sweat,_ I glisten,”

“Are you going to cry, because I can get some tissues,”

Silena let go of Lee, continued to fan her face and stared at the roof of the Apollo cabin. “I can’t! My foundation was forty-eight dollars!”

Lee winced. Then the door opened to reveal Annabeth Chase in all her glory.

She looked at both of them. “Should I come back later?”

“Better to get it over with quickly,” Silena sighed. Rubbing her painted nails through her hair. Even with all the things happening around her she tried to look fabulous. Not like that was a bad thing. “Come inside, we need to talk,”

Annabeth did. She looked as though she was expecting both of them to start raging about her lack of makeup. Lee wished it was that.

“So, I guess you’re wondering why you are here?” Lee asked. Annabeth nodded.

“I’m guessing it’s not something war council worthy?”

“Oh no, it very much is, we were just talking about it yesterday,” Silena put up a finger. “You know, they spy?”

Annabeth straightened. “Do you have theories or facts?”

“Actually…” Silena trailed off. Looking for Lee to help.

“Actually, Silena is the spy,” Lee said the one thing that everyone had hidden for literal years. “And you can’t tell anyone!”

“What the fuck!” Annabeth protested. “Silena we trusted you-,”

“It’s more of a double agent situation,” Lee answered desperately and quickly. “She says she’s spying on us but she’s actually giving the wrong information,”

“Like… Juan Pujol García?” Annabeth asked.

“I have no idea who that is,”

“You’re Bianca’s adoptive older brother?! She literally is the biggest history nerd I know?!”

“Well excuse me for not remembering one singular name in all of history!” Lee protested. Annabeth sighed before explaining.

“Juan Pujol García was a Spanish spy who acted as a double agent with loyalty to Great Britain against Nazi Germany during World War 2,” Annabeth sighed out, Lee clicked his fingers and pointed at the girl.

“Yep! It’s like that! Silena’s really working for us!”

Annabeth turned to Silena. “And why are you telling me this?”

Silena still looked like she could cry. “We just… right now we’ve been trying our best but we have no real _plan_ ,”

“So you wanted me? The planner?”

They both nodded.

Annabeth sighed. “I’ll see what I can come up with,”


	6. Screaming souls are not fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting Lukes mother

The shadows melted into a new scene.

They were on a cliff in the woods of Connecticut. Bianca knew because she’d seen it before. Last timeline, when Nico and Percy came.

Low stone walls, big houses. Down one side of the cliff, a highway cut through a ravine. Down the other side was someone's backyard. The property was huge-more wilderness than lawn. The house was a two-story white Colonial. Despite the fact that it was right on the other side of the hill from a highway, it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. Bianca could see a light glowing in the kitchen window. A rusty old swing set stood under an apple tree.

Mrs. O'Leary staggered. Bianca instantly dragged everyone off. The hellhound let out a huge toothy yawn, then turned in a circle and flopped down so hard the ground shook.

Bianca shivered all over.

“What now?” Percy asked.

“We ring the doorbell," Nico said. 

0-0-0

Cal slammed her ice coffee with whipped cream down on the desk, tilted her sunglasses and looked at Reyna up and down.

It was lunch break. Usually, the four friends (Cal, Reyna, Jason and Hazel) would spend their time at a cafe and talk. 

Maybe talk about the fact Hazel was turning fourteen in December (she’d turned thirteen with Lupa and hadn’t told  _ anyone _ , so this would be their first birthday with the group), or maybe about the latest gossip, or just plain small talk.

But Calypso had more pressing matters.

The fact that she had to set up Reyna and Jason.

Calypso  _ knew  _ what it was like to be undesired. She knew what it was like to be the only one  _ truly  _ putting into the relationship. She remembered Odysseus.

She’d thought she’d found happiness. She really, truly did. Calypso had thought that she’d be happy.

It didn’t last.

So she knew what it was like to not be loved, to be left behind. She never wanted another woman to feel that way.

“Are you really trying to do this?” Reyna raised an eyebrow.

“Sweetie, I’ve got seven days and an attitude problem with the gods, yes I’m going to do this,”

Reyna honestly looked amazing in casual wear. She was wearing a SPQR shirt, some jeans and sneakers. Her hair was braided, but it was messy and rushed. Like she’d slept in it the night before. Casual, not as uptight as she usually was.

Calypso, on the other hand, was being subjected to torture by having to wear a toga. But today she wanted to look cute. So while she had her knife she also had a flower crown on her head and sunglasses just to complete the look.

“We are going to siege a titan base and you’re more concerned about my love life,”

“Honestly, I’m more concerned about your mental health in general,” Calypso sipped her coffee. Sure, some people called her dramatic and valued her less because she acted like a classic white girl. But that was mostly because she allowed herself to do the things that made her happy. “When's the last time you took a break,”

“Two days-,”

“No, I mean an  _ actual  _ break. Not just a Roman spa. When did you let yourself have a  _ you  _ day,” Calypso knew this. It had taken her a whole roadtrip to figure out what she liked. She already knew she liked to garden, but it turned out she had other hobbies.

At the restaurant on Bianca's birthday. Calypso had the chance to sing up on stage and she’d absolutely adored the attention, she liked coffee, and that she actually loved creating her own clothes. Choosing her fashion choice relating to her own style.

“A you day?” Reyna asked.

“Yeah, you know, a break? Find out who you are, do things you enjoy, like how Hazel likes to draw and do horse riding at the local mortal stable. You aren’t just a soldier, but you will be if all you do is train,”

Reyna looked down. Calypso was probably the only person who could read her, as they’d both been in situations.

Reyna didn’t like to show weakness, back when Calypso had lost her magic she hadn’t either. But even she had to concede and ask for help.

“...When I have a long time alone I…” Reyna hesitated. Calypso sat down and smiled serenely, creating a safer environment. “I usually spend time with Scipio,”

That was something Calypso could work with.

To get Jason, Reyna needed to be confident. She needed to not be insecure and realised she deserved someone to love her, no matter how many people had left her behind.

(It was a tough lesson to swallow, believe Cal, but it’s one that eventually you have to accept)

0-0-0

Bianca knew what was in that house, and she didn’t like it.

She tried to stay in the back. It was a habit when she didn’t want to be somewhere, back of the classroom, back of the table, back of the wall when a monster approaches, you know, the usual.

The sidewalk was lined with those little stuffed bean bag animals you see in gift shops. There were miniature lions, pigs, dragons, hydras, even a teeny Minotaur in a little Minotaur diaper. Judging from their sad shape, the beanbag creatures had been sitting out here a long time-since the snow melted last spring at least. One of the hydras had a tree sapling sprouting between its necks. 

The front porch was infested with wind chimes. Shiny bits of glass and metal clinked in the breeze. If Bianca lived here she’d get rid of those, her ADHD would never be able to stand the noise.

Anyway, Bianca stayed in the back, Nico on the other hand, forged ahead.

The front door was painted turquoise. 

The name CASTELLAN was written in English, and below in Greek: Διοικητής φρουρίου. Nico looked at Percy, then back at Bianca. "Ready?" 

He'd barely tapped the door when it swung open.

"Luke!" the old lady cried happily. 

She looked like every single insane asylum straight jacket person wrapped into one. Her hair was matted in some parts and falling out in others. Her pink house dress was covered in scorch marks and smears of ash. When she smiled, her face looked unnaturally stretched.

Bianca couldn’t look in the eyes. She just couldn’t.

Some part of her swore that she was going to fix this after the war was over.

The worst part about looking at her was her soul.

The thing about Oracles was, they always had the same colour soul. A green, a very prominent, vibrant, green. Ms Castellans was a forest green, not a bright green. Meaning that she had risked her sanity for nothing. Even without the curse she still wouldn’t have been an Oracle.

(It also screamed at her, trapped inside a tortured, insane mind. It took many things to make a soul go insane. But a mind? Not so much)

"Oh, my dear boy!" She hugged Nico. Then she smiled at Percy and said, "Luke!"

Some part of Bianca wondered what Ms Castellan would say. Luke? Or something else?

Ms Castellan’s gaze left Percy and turned to Bianca. She squealed in delight. “Luke! You brought friends over! Is it Thalia or Annabeth? Sorry, I’m terrible with names,”

Both of the boys shocked, not understanding how Ms Castellan even knew those names. But Bianca just tried to keep her voice steady. “It’s actually Bianca, Ms Castellan,”

“It’s nice to meet you, Bianca, Luke doesn’t have friends over often,” Her smile was so unnerving. That was coming from the death expert. “Come in! I have lunch ready for you!”

She ushered them inside. The living room was even weirder than the front lawn. Mirrors and candles filled every available space. Above the mantel, a little bronze Hermes flew around the second hand of a ticking clock.

Bianca had never met Hermes before. She was pretty sure she’d be dead though, once he found out she wasn’t really even trying to get Luke back.

"This way, my dear!" Ms. Castellan steered them toward the back of the house. "Oh, I told them you would come back. I knew it!" 

She sat them down at the kitchen table. Stacked on the counter were hundreds of Tupperware boxes with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches inside. As if she’d been making them for Luke even when he’d gone. Pretending that Luke had still been there.

On top of the oven was a stack of cookie sheets. Each one had a dozen burned cookies on it. In the sink was a mountain of empty plastic Kool-Aid pitchers. A beanbag Medusa sat by the faucet like she was guarding the mess.

Ms. Castellan started humming as she got out peanut butter and jelly and started making a new sandwich. Something was burning in the oven. More cookies were on the way.

Above the sink, taped all around the window, were dozens of little pictures cut from magazines and newspaper ads-pictures of Hermes from the FTD Flowers logo and Quickie Cleaners, pictures of the caduceus from medical ads.

Nico coughed. "Urn, Ms. Castellan?" 

"Mm?" 

"We need to ask you about your son."

"Oh, yes! They told me he would never come back. But I knew better." She patted Percy’s cheek affectionately, giving him peanut butter racing stripes. 

"When did you last see him?" Nico asked. 

Her eyes lost focus. "He was so young when he left," she said wistfully. "Third grade. That's too young to run away! He said he'd be back for lunch. And I waited. He likes peanut butter sandwiches and cookies and Kool-Aid. He'll be back for lunch very soon. . . ." Then she looked at Percy and smiled. "Why, Luke, there you are! You look so handsome. You have your father's eyes." 

She turned toward the pictures of Hermes above the sink. "Now, there's a good man. Yes, indeed. He comes to visit me, you know." 

The clock kept ticking in the other room. Percy wiped the peanut butter off his face and looked at Bianca pleadingly, like  _ Can we get out of here now? _

“Ma'am," Nico said. "What, uh . . . what happened to your eyes?"

“Nico!” Bianca hissed. Glaring at him. “That’s off topic!”

She didn’t want to get into that story. She could tell him later.

Ms Castellan’s gaze seemed fractured-like she was trying to focus on Nico through a kaleidoscope. It wasn’t like Piper though. "Why, Luke, you know the story. It was right before you were born, wasn't it? I'd always been special, able to see through the . . . whatever-they-call-it."

"The Mist?" Percy said. 

"Yes, dear." She nodded encouragingly. "And they offered me an important job. That's how special I was!"

She wasn’t special though.

Bianca knew it. She was close but she wasn’t the person for the job.

Both of the boys glanced at Bianca confused. 

“What happened? What job?” Percy asked her.

Bianca took out a breath. Ms Castellan terrified her for multiple reasons. One being it was a result of her mother's death, and another being she couldn’t help but imagine her good friend Rachel as insane as Ms Castellan.

A soul trapped inside a senile mind. Rachel didn’t deserve that fate.

(Neither did Ms Castellan, but here they were)

Rachel could turn out like that. It’s why she had to keep everything in check.

Instead of Bianca explaining it was Ms Castellan who talked.

Ms. Castellan frowned. Her knife hovered over the sandwich bread. "Dear me, it didn't work out, did it? Your father warned me not to try. He said it was too dangerous. But I had to. It was my destiny! And now . . . I still can't get the images out of my head. They make everything seem so fuzzy. Would you like some cookies?"

She pulled a tray out of the oven and dumped a dozen lumps of chocolate chip charcoal on the table.

“Bianca?” Nico asked. “You’re hiding something,”

Bianca muttered a dam, which made Percy chuckle, then turned to the both of them. “Ms Castellan tried to become the Oracle, it didn’t work because she wasn’t meant to be it, and because of Hades’s curse,”

“What curse-?”

“Just, it happened after mum died,” Bianca said, eyeing Percy. Nico slowly nodded, understanding that the information was private.

“Luke was so kind," Ms. Castellan murmured. "He left to protect me, you know. He said if he went away, the monsters wouldn't threaten me. But I told him the monsters are no threat! They sit outside on the sidewalk all day, and they never come in." She picked up the little stuffed Medusa from the windowsill. "Do they, Mrs. Medusa? No, no threat at all." She beamed at Percy. "I'm so glad you came home. I knew you weren't ashamed of me!"

"Ms. Castellan," Percy said. 

"Mom," she corrected. 

"Um, yeah. Have you seen Luke since he left home?" 

"Well, of course!" 

Nico sat forward expectantly. "When?" he asked. "When did Luke visit you last?" 

"Well, it was . . . Oh goodness . . ." A shadow passed across her face. "The last time, he looked so different. A scar. A terrible scar, and his voice was so full of pain . . ." 

"His eyes," Percy said. "Were they gold?" 

"Gold?" She blinked. "No. How silly. Luke has blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes!" 

It had been before he’d become Kronos.

"Ms. Castellan?" Nico put his hand on the old woman's arm. "This is very important. Did he ask you for anything?" 

She frowned as if trying to remember. "My-my blessing. Isn't that sweet?" She looked at Percy uncertainty. "He was going to a river, and he said he needed my blessing. I gave it to him. Of course I did." 

Nico looked at Bianca triumphantly. "Thank you, ma'am. That's all the information we-,"

Ms. Castellan gasped. She doubled over, and her cookie tray clattered to the floor. Nico and Percy jumped to their feet. While Bianca was in front of them just in case something happened.

"Ms. Castellan?" Percy said. 

"AHHHH," She straightened. Percy scrambled away and almost fell over the kitchen table, because her eyes were glowing green. 

"My child," she rasped in a much deeper voice. "Must protect him! Hermes, help! Not my child! Not his fate-no!"

She grabbed Bianca by the shoulders and began to shake her as if to make her understand. "Not his fate!"

Bianca stared at the green eyes. Even if they were horrifying, the thing that made her scream though was a sensory overload. Every soul in the room was panicking, screaming in their chest. Writhing as if a wild bird stuck in a cage.

The worst was Ms Castellan, who was obviously in so much internal pain and at the moment there was nothing Bianca could do to help.

Nico made a strangled scream and pushed her away from Bianca. He gripped the hilt of his sword. "Bianca, we need to get out-," 

Suddenly Ms. Castellan collapsed. Bianca lurched forward and caught her before she could hit the edge of the table. She managed to get her into a chair. 

"Ms. C?" Percy asked. She muttered something incomprehensible and shook her head.

"Goodness. I . . . I dropped the cookies. How silly of me." She blinked, and her eyes were back to normal. But never truly normal. The green glow was gone, but they still looked misted over.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked.

Bianca couldn’t help but think of her own panic attacks that Percy would help her through after stressful situations (large crowds, nightmares, very small spaces, lighting storms, the whole shebang).

"Well, of course, dear. I'm fine. Why do you ask?" 

Percy glanced at Nico, who mouthed the word  _ Leave _ . Bianca nodded.

"Ms. C, you were telling us something," Percy said. "Something about your son." 

"Was I?" she said dreamily. "Yes, his blue eyes. We were talking about his blue eyes. Such a handsome boy!" 

"We have to go," Bianca said urgently. She could still feel her soul calling out for help. "We'll tell Luke . . . uh, we'll tell him you said hello." 

"But you can't leave!" Ms. Castellan got shakily to her feet, and Percy backed away. Bianca stood in front. (so much for staying in the back)

"Hermes will be here soon," she promised. "He'll want to see his boy!" 

"Maybe next time," Percy said. "Thank you for-Thanks for everything." 

She tried to stop them, to offer us Kool-Aid, but Bianca had to get out of that house, she had to get her family out of that house. On the front porch, she grabbed Percy’s wrist and he almost jumped out of his skin. 

"Luke, at least be safe. Promise me you'll be safe." 

"I will . . . Mom." That made her smile. She released Percy’s wrist, and as she closed the front door Bianca could hear her talking to the candles: "You hear that? He will be safe. I told you he would be!" 

As the door shut, the three of them ran. The little beanbag animals on the sidewalk seemed to grin at us as they passed. 

Bianca could still feel the soul scream as she walked out of the radius. A fading echo.

Back at the cliff, Mrs. O'Leary had found a friend.

0-0-0

Reyna really hadn’t had any friends that were girls before Cal.

Sure, at Circe's spa resort, she talked to the other girls there, but it felt more like competition than friendship or companionship.

There was Hylla. But even then, they hadn’t talked since the Amazons, and she didn’t count anyway. She was Reyna's sister.

So Cal really was the first.

Cal was currently stroking Scipio’s mane. She had her sunglasses hidden somewhere and her knife (for sacrificial purposes only) was even more well hidden. With the toga she was wearing and the flower crown on her head Cal looked like a goddess.

“So I was thinking,” Cal mentioned. “After this we go and try on different dresses and stuff. See what style suits you? Your outfit-,”

“What’s wrong with my outfit?” Reyna had already accepted that she wouldn’t look good. But having someone critique somehow rammed it in.

“Nothing!” Cal waved off. “Sorry, it’s just… I’ve never seen you wear a dress before,”

Reyna paused and looked to the side. Cal never judged her, and while Reyna would never indulge in her worst secrets with anyone, if she did have to pick someone to share her insecurities with, it would probably be Cal.

“I’m… too masculine for it,” Reyna mumbled. While strength helped her in battle, in a more peaceful setting muscles and chiseled jawlines weren’t seen as desirable in women.

Cal still had everything though. A woman who could kick someone's ass (through magic, of course) but a slim body of all natural beauty.

“Okay, whoever told you that I’ll slit their throat,” Cal held up a hand as if waiting for a name. She looked disappointed when she didn’t receive one. “You look amazing Reyna, get that through your thick head,”

Reyna scoffed and looked away, not letting Cal know how much she appreciated those words.

“Now! The next meeting starts in…” She checked, not her watch, but her phone. Reyna didn’t even try to ask why she had one on her. Cal gave a different excuse each time. “An hour and thirty minutes, we can try on some dresses for you to wear later?”

Reyna contemplated. There were so many other things she could be doing, more  _ useful  _ things. But she’d just spent half an hour with Cal talking and it felt light some of the weight on her shoulders had been lifted.

“Sure,”

0-0-0

A cozy campfire crackled in a ring of stones. A girl about eight years old was sitting cross-legged next to Mrs. O'Leary, scratching the hellhound's ears.

Bianca remembered Nico talking to her. Back on the first day of camp.

She’d never talked to the goddess herself, but she had prayed to her when trying to find Nico.

The girl had mousy brown hair and a simple brown dress. She wore a scarf over her head so she looked like a pioneer kid—like the ghost of Little House on the Prairie or something. She poked the fire with a stick, and it seemed to glow more richly red than a normal fire.

"Hello," she said.

Bianca and Nico both bowed in respect, not in necessity. Percy did the same, only a few seconds late.

"Hello again, Lady." 

Bianca and Nico sat down. Feeling calmer already now that she was away from that house.

“Sit, Percy Jackson," she said. "Would you like some dinner?”

Hestia waved her hand and a picnic appeared at the edge of the fire. There were plates of roast beef, baked potatoes, buttered carrots, fresh bread, and a whole bunch of other foods, it felt like it was someone's birthday party. Percy’s stomach started to rumble.

The girl alsol made a five-foot-long dog biscuit appear for Mrs. O'Leary, who happily began tearing it to shreds. 

Percy sat next to Bianca, who had grabbed a class of strong straight Italian coffee with tequila shots in it (shhh, it was just her secret to get through the stress), and gave Percy a glass of koolaid.

Percy scraped part of his meal into the flames, the way they do at camp. "For the gods," he said.

Hestia smiled. "Thank you. As tender of the flame, I get a share of every sacrifice, you know." 

"I recognize you now," Percy said. "The first time I came to camp, you were sitting by the fire, in the middle of the commons area."

"You did not stop to talk," the girl recalled sadly. "Alas, most never do. Nico talked to me. He was the first in many years. Everyone rushes about. No time for visiting family." 

“Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth and Home,” Bianca smiled at her, Hestia smiled back.

“Bianca di Angelo, I remember your prayers for finding your family, and while you have found your brother, it seems to still be growing,” Hestia looked at Bianca with pride. Bianca felt her heart elate at the praise.

“You prayed to Hestia?” Nico asked.

“When you were missing,” Bianca whispered back. Nico was shocked, but Bianca was already continuing to talk. “Hestia, why aren't you with the other Olympians, fighting Typhon?”

"I'm not much for fighting." Her red eyes flickered. Similar to the flames Bianca saw at the campfire in camp halfblood.

"Besides," she said, "someone has to keep the home fires burning while the other gods are away."

This is what Bianca wanted her fire to be. Even if she rarely used it (draining and destructive) she wanted to one day count on her fire to be more of a hearth then a point of destruction.

"So you're guarding Mount Olympus?" Percy asked. "'Guard' may be too strong a word. But if you ever need a warm place to sit and a home-cooked meal, you are welcome to visit. Now eat." 

Before Bianca realised it, all of the food was scarfed down.

"That was great," Bianca said. "Thank you, Hestia." 

She nodded. "Did you have a good visit with May Castellan?" 

Bianca shuddered, she’d almost forgotten the screams of that woman and the way she’d begged for something Bianca really had no intention of fixing.

“What's wrong with her, exactly?" Percy asked. Bianca was giving him warning eyes but

"She was born with a gift," Hestia said. "She could see through the Mist." 

"Like my mother," Percy said. "But the glowing eyes thing-," 

"Some bear the curse of sight better than others," the goddess said sadly. "For a while, May Castellan had many talents. She attracted the attention of Hermes himself. They had a beautiful baby boy. For a brief time, she was happy. And then she went too far."

“She thought she could be the next Oracle,” Bianca muttered. “But there’s a  _ reason  _ why the spirit of Delphi hasn’t moved onto a new host. It’s cursed, so that the Oracle will never be able to rest,”

“How does that-?”

“And if anybody  _ tries  _ to take over for the spirit they get cursed,” Bianca looked up. “They occasionally see the future, but Mrs C has been seeing the same future for twenty years. And it’s  _ hurting her _ ,”

Nico took her hand. Rubbing it as a comfort. Bianca took out a breath and calmed down. Percy took her other hand, he wasn’t as good at comforting Nico, but when you both help the other with panic attacks early in the morning and late at night you remember a few things.

"No wonder Luke ran away," Percy said. "I mean, it wasn't right to leave his mom like that, but still-he was just a kid. Hermes shouldn't have abandoned them."

Hestia scratched behind Mrs. O'Leary's ears. The hellhound wagged her tail and accidentally knocked over a tree. 

"It's easy to judge others," Hestia warned. "But will you follow Luke's path? Seek the same powers?" 

Nico set down his plate. "We have no choice, my lady. It's the only way Percy stands a chance." 

"Mmm." Hestia opened her hand and the fire roared. Flames shot thirty feet into the air. Heat slapped Bianca in the face. Then the fire died back down to normal. 

"Not all powers are spectacular." Hestia looked at Percy. "Sometimes the hardest power to master is the power of yielding. Do you believe me?" 

"Uh-huh," Percy said.

The goddess smiled. "You are a good hero, Percy Jackson. Not too proud. I like that. But you have much to learn. When Dionysus was made a god, I gave up my throne for him. It was the only way to avoid a civil war among the gods." 

"It unbalanced the Council," Percy remembered. "Suddenly there were seven guys and five girls." 

Hestia shrugged. "It was the best solution, not a perfect one. Now I tend the fire. I fade slowly into the background. No one will ever write epic poems about the deeds of Hestia. Most demigods don't even stop to talk to me. But that is no matter. I keep the peace. I yield when necessary. Can you do this?" 

"I don't know what you mean." She studied Percy. 

"Perhaps not yet. But soon. Will you continue your quest?" 

"Is that why you're here—to warn me against going?" 

Hestia shook her head. "I am here because when all else fails, when all the other mighty gods have gone off to war, I am all that's left. Home. Hearth. I am the last Olympian. You must remember me when you face your final decision.”

Percy looked at Nico, then Bianca, then back at Hestia's warm glowing eyes. "I have to continue, my lady. I have to stop Luke . . . I mean Kronos." 

Hestia nodded. "Very well. I cannot be of much assistance, beyond what I have already told you. But since you sacrificed to me, I can return you to your own hearth. I will see you again, Percy, on Olympus." Her tone was ominous, as though the next meeting would not be happy. The goddess waved her hand, and everything faded. 

0-0-0

Nico, Bianca and Percy were sitting on the couch in her mom's (Percy’s mom, to be more specific) apartment on the Upper East Side. That was the good news. The bad news was that the rest of the living room was occupied by Mrs. O'Leary. 

Bianca heard a muffled yell from the bedroom. Paul's voice said, "Who put this wall of fur in the doorway?" 

"Percy?" Sally called out. "Are you here? Are you all right?" 

"I'm here!" Percy shouted back.

"WOOF!" Mrs. O'Leary tried to turn in a circle to find Percy’s mom, knocking all the pictures off the walls. She's only met Sally once before (long story), but she loves her. It took a few minutes, but they finally got things worked out. 

After destroying most of the furniture in the living room and probably making the neighbors really mad, we got Percy’s parents out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where they sat around the kitchen table. Mrs. O'Leary still took up the entire living room, but she'd settled her head in the kitchen doorway so she could see them, which made her happy.

Sally tossed her a ten-pound family-size tube of ground beef, which disappeared down her gullet. Paul poured lemonade for the rest of them while Bianca explained about their visit to Connecticut. 

"So it's true." Paul stared at Percy like he'd never seen him before. He was wearing his white bathrobe, now covered in hellhound fur, and his salt-and-pepper hair was sticking up in every direction. "All the talk about monsters, and being a demigod . . . it's really true."

Bianca nodded. Last fall they'd explained to Paul who she and Percy were. Sally had backed them up. But until this moment, Bianca didn't think he really believed them. 

"Sorry about Mrs. O'Leary," Bianca said, "destroying the living room and all."

Paul laughed like he was delighted. "Are you kidding? This is awesome! I mean, when I saw the hoofprints on the Prius, I thought maybe. But this!"

He patted Mrs. O'Leary's snout. The living room shook—BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—which either meant a SWAT team was breaking down the door or Mrs. O'Leary was wagging her tail. Bianca couldn't help but smile. It was nice that Percy had a nice stepdad.

(she’d found out, some time ago, about Gabe. It had been the only time there entirety of year she’d willingly talked to her father, just to increase that man's punishment)

"Thanks for not freaking out," Percy said. 

"Oh, I'm freaking out," he promised, his eyes wide. "I just think it's awesome!" 

"Yeah, well," Bianca said, of course bringing a dampener to the mood. "you may not be so excited when you hear what's happening." 

Bianca and Percy told Paul and Sally about Typhon, and the gods, and the battle that was sure to come. Then they told them Nico's plan. 

Sally laced her fingers around her lemonade glass. She was wearing her old blue flannel bathrobe, and her hair was tied back. Recently she'd started writing a novel, like she'd wanted to do for years, and Bianca could tell she'd been working on it late into the night, because the circles under her eyes were darker than usual. 

Behind her at the kitchen window, silvery moon lace glowed in the flower box. The one Calypso had given Percy before she left (Bianca wondered how the Titian was).

Sally took a deep breath, like she was thinking how to tell them no. 

"Bianca, it's dangerous," she said. "Even for you." 

"Sally, I know, he could die, but I won’t let that happen, and if we don’t do it-," 

"We'll all die," Nico said. He took a sip out of his lemonade. "Ms.-Sally, we don't stand a chance against an invasion. And there will be an invasion." 

"An invasion of New York?" Paul said. "Is that even possible? How could we not see the . . . the monsters?" He said the word like he still couldn't believe this was real. 

"I don't know," Percy admitted. "I don't see how Kronos could just march into Manhattan, but the Mist is strong. Typhon is trampling across the country right now, and mortals think he's a storm system." 

"Sally," Bianca said, "Percy needs your blessing. The process has to start that way. We weren't sure until we met Luke's mom, but now we’re positive. This has only been done successfully twice before. Both times, the mother had to give her blessing. She had to be willing to let her son take the risk." 

"You want me to bless this?" She shook her head. "It's crazy. Percy, please-," 

"Mom, I can't do it without you." 

"And if you survive this . . . this process?" 

"Then I go to war," Percy said. "Me against Kronos. And only one of us will survive."

“There’s still a chance it could be about me,” Bianca said cautiously. Sally didn’t look any happier that any one of her kids could be harmed in this. “But… my mothers dead, so Percy’s the best shot we have,”

"You're my children," she said miserably. Bianca felt warm inside by her saying that, but it wasn’t the time. "I can't just . . ."

Percy locked eyes with Paul, and some kind of understanding passed between them. "

Sally." He put his hand over her mother's hands. "I can't claim to know what you and Percy have been going through all these years. But it sounds to me . . . it sounds like Percy is doing something noble. I wish I had that much courage."

Sally looked like she was trying not to cry. 

"Percy," she said, "I give you my blessing." 

Bianca glanced at Nico. He looked more anxious than ever, but he nodded. "It's time."

"Percy," their mom said. "One last thing. If you . . . if you survive this fight with Kronos, send me a sign."

She rummaged through her purse and handed Percy her cell phone. 

"Mom," Bianca said, pushing the phone away. "I already have a phone for the both of us, and Leo’s mass producing them for camp. We’ll be fine," 

Sally still looked nervous.

"But just in case.” Bianca continued. “If we’re not able to call . . . maybe a sign that you could see from anywhere in Manhattan. To let you know we're okay." 

"Like Theseus," Paul suggested. "He was supposed to raise white sails when he came home to Athens." 

"Except he forgot," Nico muttered. "And his father jumped off the palace roof in despair. But other than that, it was a great idea."

"What about a flag or a flare?" my mom said. "From Olympus—the Empire State Building."

"Something blue," Percy said. Bianca smiled at that. She loved the blue food.

"Yes," Sally agreed. "I'll watch for a blue signal. And I'll try to avoid jumping off palace roofs."

She gave them all one last hug, including Nico. She might not have him in her home as much as Bianca and Percy, but Nico was still her child.

Nico, Percy and Bianca walked to the kitchen doorway and looked at Mrs. O'Leary. "Sorry, girl," Bianca said. "Shadow travel time again." 

She whimpered and crossed her paws over her snout. 

"Where now?" Percy asked. "Los Angeles?" 

"No need," he said. "There's a closer entrance to the Underworld."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, each Underworld's sibling is now one year apart, at the moment Nico’s 12, Hazel’s 13 and Bianca’s 14.


	7. The River Styx and Talking Back To Parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hades, honey, you really have to try harder than that.

They emerged in Central Park just north of the Pond. Mrs. O'Leary looked pretty tired as she limped over to a cluster of boulders. She started sniffing around.

Percy looked cautious. Bianca put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s fine, she just smells the entrance to the underworld,”

Percy frowned. "Through the rocks?" 

"The Underworld has two major entrances," Nico said. "You know the one in L.A." 

"Charon's ferry." 

Nico nodded. "Most souls go that way, but there's a smaller path, harder to find. The Door of Orpheus."

"The dude with the harp." 

"Dude with the lyre," Bianca corrected. "But yeah, him. He used his music to charm the earth and open a new path into the Underworld. He sang his way right into Da-...Hades's palace and almost got away with his wife's soul." 

One of the stories that had the underworld as a main part. It wasn’t Bianca’s favourite story about Hades really (even if he hadn’t been a bad guy, he hadn’t been good either). Bianca’s favourite would probably be the time Hades punished Thesus and his buddy Prometheus, as they were going to kidnap Persephone.

(Like, what a bunch of idiots. You really think Hades would let his wife be kidnapped?!)

"So this is the Door of Orpheus." Percy said. "How does it open?" 

"We need music," Nico said. "How's your singing?" 

"Um, no. Can't you just, like, tell it to open? You're both children of Hades and all." 

"It's not so easy. We need music."

Both boys turned to Bianca.

“Nope,” She knew that they were going to wake up Grover, and anyway, the only time she’d sung to open it had been a lullaby that only Nico knew. “Nu-huh,”

"I have a better idea." Percy turned and called, "GROVER!"

0-0-0

Reyna breathed in and out.

Slowly and calmly.

 _You’re a centurion. You’re making plans to defeat the titan Saturn. You’re leading the fourth cohort._ She thought in mental encouragement.

She was strong in the planning room, she was strong in the battlefield. She was _not_ strong when it came to feminine things.

She’d never been good at it, even on Circe’s island. The only thing she was good at was putting on togas and braiding hair. That was _literally_ it.

Reyna kept her eyes closed. Too scared to look at what Cal had put her in.

“You look amazing,” Cal said with gentle honesty. Which was rare for her, as she usually spoke either bluntly or a mysterious prophecy like way. Reyna kept her eyes shut for her own mental sanity. “I mean it! Seriously! Just open your eyes, if you don’t like it we can take it off immediately,”

Reyna hesitantly opened an eye.

She looked… actually good.

Not Cal pretty, but certainly better than when she normally wore a dress.

It was long, elegant and a purple colour, one that was usually on the t-shirts at camp. It was sleeveless, letting her shoulders out for all to see. Her legs were covered though (good, she hadn’t shaved in a while). Turning around there was a little section where her back was visible. Her hair was in a braid, tied down and laid to the back.

Reyna liked it.

It didn’t fix all of the problems but… it looked nice.

Reyna turned to Cal and gave a hesitant smile. The girl herself had changed to a green sundress, with high boots and legs that could butter a man.

She blushed. Before coughing into her hand and giving a small thanks.

“See,” Cal had a smirk as if she’d won something. “I told you you looked pretty,”

So she had.

0-0-0

Percy waited for a long time.

Mrs. O'Leary curled up and took a nap. Percy could hear the crickets in the woods and an owl hooting. Traffic hummed along Central Park West. Horse hooves clopped down a nearby path, maybe a mounted police patrol.

"It's no good," Nico said at last.

Percy disagreed. His empathy link was calling to him, similar to how Bianca’s soul sensing worked, so that meant Grover was nearby. And even if the three of them didn’t have the underworld problem, Percy really wanted someone who could definitively tell him whether he was going insane or not.

After the last three experiences he hadn’t had any other encounters with the switchy switchy, but he’d been trying to think of what was happening. His best guess was a parallel universe or something, but at this point Percy didn’t even want to think that _was_ a possibility.

So, Percy shut his eyes and concentrated. 

_Grover_. He was somewhere in the park, Percy knew that. But why couldn’t he sense his emotions? All I got was a faint hum in the base of his skull. 

_Grover_ , Percy thought more insistently.

 _Hmm-hmmmm_ , something said.

An image came into his head. Percy saw a giant elm tree deep in the woods, well off the main paths. Gnarled roots laced the ground, making a kind of bed. Lying in it with his arms crossed and his eyes closed was a satyr. At first Percy couldn't be sure it was Grover. He was covered in twigs and leaves, like he'd been sleeping there a long time. The roots seemed to be shaping themselves around him, slowly pulling him into the earth.

 _Grover_ , Percy said. _Wake up._

_Unnnh—zzzzz._

_Dude, you're covered in dirt. Wake up!_

_Sleepy_ , his mind murmured. 

_FOOD_ , Percy suggested. _PANCAKES!_

His eyes shot open. A blur of thoughts filled Percy’s head like he was suddenly on fast-forward. The image shattered, and he almost fell over. 

"What happened?" Nico asked.

“Have you found Grover?” Bianca questioned. Stabilizing him.

"I got through. He's . . . yeah. He's on his way."

Bianca smiled. “Good. Man, I missed Grover,”

“You and me both,”

A minute later, the tree next to us shivered. Grover fell out of the branches, right on his head.

"Grover!" Percy yelled. 

"Woof!" Mrs. O'Leary looked up, probably wondering if they were going to play fetch with the satyr. 

"Blah-haa-haa!" Grover bleated. 

"You okay, G-man?" Bianca knelt next to him cautiously.

"Oh, I'm fine." He rubbed his head. His horns had grown so much they poked an inch above his curly hair. "I was at the other end of the park. The dryads had this great idea of passing me through the trees to get me here. They don't understand height very well."

He grinned and got to his hooves. 

Since last summer, Grover had stopped trying to disguise himself as human. He never wore a cap or fake feet anymore, not even jeans were on his legs. His T-shirt had a picture from that book Where the Wild Things Are. It was covered with dirt and tree sap. His goatee looked fuller, almost manly (or goatly?), and he was as tall as Percy now. 

Maybe because they were actually the same age, body wise.

"Good to see you, G-man," Percy said. 

Grover nodded at Nico, smiled at Biancam then he gave Percy a big hug. Bianca smiled at the two while wrapping an arm around her own sibling.

"Perrrrcy!" he bleated. "I missed you! I miss camp. They don't serve very good enchiladas in the wilderness."

"I was worried," Percy said. Because it was true, he really was worried about Grovers whereabouts. "Where've you been the last two months?" 

"The last two-," Grover's smile faded. "The last two months? What are you talking about?"

"We haven't heard from you," Percy said. "Juniper's worried. We sent Iris-messages, but-,"

"Hold on." He looked up at the stars like he was trying to calculate his position. "What month is this?" 

"August."

The color drained from his face. "That's impossible. It's June. I just lay down to take a nap and . . ." He grabbed Percy’s arms. "I remember now! He knocked me out. Percy, we have to stop him!" 

"Whoa," Bianca said. Holding her hands out in a calming motion. "Slow down. Tell us what happened." 

He took a deep breath. "I was . . . I was walking in the woods up by Harlem Meer. And I felt this tremble in the ground, like something powerful was near." 

"You can sense stuff like that?" Nico asked. 

Grover nodded. "Since Pan's death, I can feel when something is wrong in nature. It's like my ears and eyes are sharper when I'm in the Wild. Anyway, I started following the scent. This man in a long black coat was walking through the park, and I noticed he didn't cast a shadow. Middle of a sunny day, and he cast no shadow. He kind of shimmered as he moved."

“Ghost?” Bianca guessed.

“Like a mirage?" Nico asked. 

"Yes, a mirage, it wasn’t a ghost" Grover said. Nico was looking at Bianca with surprise, as if it was weird to see her getting anything wrong. "And whenever he passed humans-," 

"The humans would pass out," Nico said. "Curl up and go to sleep." 

"That's right! Then after he was gone, they'd get up and go about their business like nothing happened."

Percy stared at Nico. "You know this guy in black?"

"Afraid so," Nico said. "Grover, what happened?"

"I followed the guy. He kept looking up at the buildings around the park like he was making estimates or something. This lady jogger ran by, and she curled up on the sidewalk and started snoring. The guy in black put his hand on her forehead like he was checking her temperature. Then he kept walking. By this time, I knew he was a monster or something even worse. I followed him into this groove, to the base of a big elm tree. I was about to summon some dryads to help me capture him when he turned and . . ."

Grover swallowed. "Percy, his face. I couldn't make out his face because it kept shifting. Just looking at him made me sleepy. I said, 'What are you doing?' He said, 'Just having a look around. You should always scout a battlefield before the battle.' I said something really smart like, 'This forest is under my protection. You won't start any battles here!' And he laughed. He said, 'You're lucky I'm saving my energy for the main event, little satyr. I'll just grant you a short nap. Pleasant dreams.' And that's the last thing I remember."

Nico exhaled. "Grover, you met Morpheus, the God of Dreams. You're lucky you ever woke up."

“You’ve met _Morpheus_?!” Bianca exclaimed. Percy knew that Hades children were usually hated by most gods, so the fact that she was worried about meeting him was probably acceptable. “Are you okay? When did this happen?!”

Nico reeled in shock. “One of the scouting missions, it’s nothing,”

“No, it’s not! You need to tell me these things!”

“Why? It wasn’t important, I only saw him in passing really,”

Bianca gritted her teeth, looking as though she was going to continue to argue, before stopping and turning back to Grover. “You okay?”

"Two months," Grover moaned. "He put me to sleep for two months!"

Percy tried to wrap his mind around what this meant. Now it made sense why he hadn't been able to contact Grover all this time. "Why didn't the nymphs try to wake you?"

Grover shrugged. "Most nymphs aren't good with time. Two months for a tree-that's nothing. They probably didn't think anything was wrong." 

"We've got to figure out what Morpheus was doing in the park," Percy said. "I don't like this 'main event' thing he mentioned." 

"He's working for Kronos," Nico said. "We know that already. A lot of the minor gods are. This just proves there's going to be an invasion. Percy, we have to get on with the plan."

“Honestly Nico,” Bianca said, sighing into her hand. “He already agreed, you don’t need to keep pushing him,”

Nico’s head looked down, mumbling a small sorry.

"Wait," Grover said. "What plan?"

Bianca told him, and Grover started tugging at his leg fur. 

"You're not serious," he said. "Not the Underworld again." "

I'm not asking you to come, man," Percy promised. "I know you just woke up. But we need some music to open the door. Can you do it?"

Grover took out his reed pipes. "I guess I could try. I know a few Nirvana tunes that can split rocks. But, Percy, are you sure you want to do this?" 

"Please, man," Percy said. He trusted Bianca and Nico as well. While the idea might be absolutely crazy, Percy was pretty sure he wasn’t going to survive without doing it. "It would mean a lot. For old times' sake?" 

Grover whimpered. "As I recall, in the old times we almost died a lot. But okay, here goes nothing."

He put his pipes to his lips and played a shrill, lively tune. The boulders trembled. A few more stanzas, and they cracked open, revealing a triangular crevice. Percy peered inside. Steps led down into the darkness. The air smelled of mildew and death. It brought back bad memories of their trip through the Labyrinth last year, but this tunnel felt even more dangerous. It led straight to the land of Hades, and that was almost always a one-way trip.

Percy turned to Grover. "Thanks . . . I think." 

"Perrrrcy, is Kronos really going to invade?" 

"I wish I could tell you better, but yeah. He will." Percy thought Grover might chew up his reed pipes in anxiety, but he straightened up and brushed off his T-shirt.

"I've got to rally the nature spirits, then. Maybe we can help. I'll see if we can find this Morpheus.”

"Better tell Juniper you're okay, too." Bianca reminded Grover.

His eyes widened. "Juniper! Oh, she's going to kill me!" 

He started to run off, then scrambled back and gave Percy, Bianca and surprisingly Nico another hug. "Be careful down there! Come back alive!"

Once he was gone, Nico and Bianca roused Mrs. O'Leary from her nap. When she smelled the tunnel, she got excited and led the way down the steps. It was a pretty tight fit. Percy hoped she wouldn't get stuck

“Well Percy,” Bianca said, looking just as reluctant as Percy. “Are you ready to see my father again?”

“It'll be fine. Don't worry." Nico sounded like he was trying to convince himself. 

Percy glanced up at the stars, wondering if he would ever see them again. “Do I _really_ have to talk to your father?”

“He’s not letting us do this either way, but I can try and convince him not to if you want,” Bianca suggested. “Though I don’t think he’ll listen,”

“He’ll listen to you more than me,” Nico said bitterly.

Bianca sighed. Knowing he was correct but wishing he wasn’t. “Let’s just go,”

She led the way down into the underworld, flicking her hands into Hellfire once it got dark enough, Percy following closely behind.

0-0-0

Bianca would admit one thing.

She was excited to see Persephone again.

Once spring had started, Persephone was free from the underworld and thus able to go anywhere she pleased. Which, evidently, meant she visited Bianca.

She wasn’t like last visit, the one in the underworld. She brought homemade cookies or brownies most times she visited, she was sweet but also strict, and she cared for Bianca’s wellbeing.

She was also extremely supportive of Bianca dating Piper, even setting up a perfect picnic date for the two.

So yes, she was excited to see her stepmother (and other than Sally, the closest thing she had to an alive mother). The thought of seeing her father though? No.

No she was not happy, ready or even remotely looking forward to it.

“You okay, Bia?” Percy asked. Using a nickname similar to Bianca calling Percy Percival.

“Honestly, no, but I'll be fine,” Bianca said, still forging ahead, her dog taking the lead. The stairs went on forever—narrow, steep, and slippery. It was completely dark except for the light of her hellfire.

Bianca tried to go slow, but Mrs. O'Leary had other ideas. She bounded ahead, barking happily. The sound echoed through the tunnel like cannon shots, and she figured they would not be catching anybody by surprise once they reached the bottom.

After another hour, Bianca started to hear the roar of a river.

They emerged at the base of a cliff, on a plain of black volcanic sand. To the right, the River Styx gushed from the rocks and roared off in a cascade of rapids. To the left, far away in the gloom, fires burned on the ramparts of Erebos, the great black walls of her father's kingdom. 

Percy shuddered. Bianca took in a deep breath, she was going to have to be the bigger person here, her brothers were both scared, both for different reasons, so Bianca was going to have to be the calm voice of reason.

Mrs. O'Leary acted happy. She ran along the beach, picked up a random human leg bone, and romped back toward Nico. She dropped the bone at his feet and waited for him to throw it.

Nico threw it just to be nice

Percy was staring at the dark waters, trying to get up his nerve. "So, Bianca . . . how do we do this?"

Bianca stared at the river. “Well, mostly you’ll have to prepare yourself or else you’ll shrivel up and disintegrate,”

“Fun,”

“Please don’t treat this like a joke,” Bianca was exasperated. Nico was still throwing the bone for Mrs. O’Leary. “But anyway, you’ll need to tie yourself to the mortal world with envisioning a person,”

“Okay- so what now? Do I just jump-” Percy was stopped when three figures showed themselves before them. Nico stopped throwing the bone leg and came over, while Mrs. O’Leary began to growl at them.

Bianca recognised one especially, she had a shriveled face, a horrible blue knit hat, and a crumpled velvet dress. Leathery bat wings sprang from her back. Her feet had sharp talons, and in her brass-clawed hands she held a flaming whip and a paisley handbag.

"Mrs. Dodds," Percy said. Bianca blinked and looked at him.

She bared her fangs. "Welcome back, honey." 

Her two sisters—the other Furies—swooped down and settled next to her.

"You know Alecto?" Bianca asked.

"If you mean the hag in the middle, yeah," Percy said. "She was my math teacher."

“Well, that sounds like something she would do,” Bianca turned back to the furies and stepped forward. “Leave us alone, we need to give Percy the Achilles curse,”

“I’m afraid that’s not happening deary,” Alecto said, her face hissed and squawked.

“Why can’t you just let us do this one thing,” Bianca pleaded.

“Because Lord Hades doesn’t want to speak to just Percy,” Alecto was staring straight into Bianca. “He wants to speak to his children, and he won’t take no for an answer,”

Bianca stared. Calculating whether she could risk it.

“Queen Persephone also wishes to see your presence,”

Bianca sighed. “Alright then, we really can’t get out of doing this,”

“What?!”

“Percy, it’s fine, as long as my mom is there we can convince Hades not to hurt us,” Bianca calmed him. Percy was sweating, but he seemed to trust Bianca’s judgement enough not to question it. “Alright, take us to the castle,”

0-0-0

Silena was still, very much a mess, and Lee was trying his best.

“So, what did you dream of this time?” Lee said. Handing the girl some coffee. The only other kid awake was Will.

Will had wanted to ask for advice, love advice to be specific, with Silena. But seeing how the girl had stumbled into the Apollo cabin crying, he’d decided another Aphrodite camper would hold better results.

“It wasn’t the usual this time,” Silena sipped her coffee again, it probably would have been better to give her tea but… you know. “There was no dying, there was no battle field, I was talking to a woman. She was saying she’d wait for us, no matter how long it took,”

“Clari-,”

“No,” Silena cut in harshly. Lee was half tempted to give her some of Pollux's stash of alcohol just to make her feel better (he was still a dumb teenager). “No it wasn’t her,”

“What did she look like,”

Silena had a memory filled look in her eye. “Her eyes were intelligent and dark, brown as the richest earth, and large in her almond-shaped face. Her hair was dark and long too,”

Silena only turned poetic when she talked about Clarrise. So who the fuck was this bitch?

Lee decided to try something.

“Do you know her name, Patroclus,” Lee said. Watching as Silenas eyes misted over, looking less focused and in control.

“Briseis,” Silena (Patroclus?) said. “She’s waiting for us. Achilles is a hero, he wanted the Isle of Blest, no matter how much I pleaded with him not to. And yet it seems i’d still follow him anywhere, even though there's no heroic bone in my body,”

“And Briseis?”

“Stayed behind, said she’d wait for us to return,” Patroclus’s unfocused eyes brightened. “And I found him! I found Achilles! I can be with him again-,”

Lee grabbed onto Patroclus’s arm before he could leave. “Silena, no,”

The eyes focused again, blue and radiating with confusion before focusing again and looking at Lee. “What did you-?”

“Sorry, I just needed to test something,”

“Why?” Silena was back, and staring at her hands. “I just… I don’t,”

Lee sat silent. This was way out of his pay grade (which was saying a lot since he didn’t even get paid).

Will Solace, in the background, just pretended he didn’t see what he saw.

He just wanted to know how to flirt with someone, he didn’t want to know about rebirths and the fact Silena was Patroclus.

Will didn’t hear a fucking thing.

(He’d talk to Piper about the flirting business in the morning).

0-0-0

Percy was really beginning to not trust his own judgement.

Bianca was currently flying up front with Alecto (Mrs. Dodds? Whatever) while Percy was off with one of the other furies he hadn’t bothered to learn the name of, Nico off in the back, being carried as well. While Mrs. O’Leary followed after them, barking.

They flew over everything. From Cerberus, to the fields of Asphodel. Before the fury dropped Percy like a sack of turnips in the middle of the palace garden. 

It was pretty, sure, but also terrifying. Skeletal white trees grew from marble basins. Flower beds overflowed with golden plants and gemstones. A pair of thrones, one bone and one silver, sat on the balcony with a view of the Fields of Asphodel. It would've been a nice place to spend a Saturday morning except for the sulfurous smell and the cries of tortured souls in the distance.

Skeletal warriors guarded the only exit. They wore tattered U.S. Army desert combat fatigues and carried M16s. 

The third Fury deposited Nico next to Percy. Then all three of them settled on the top of the skeletal throne.

“Let me and Nico do the talking and do _not_ say something stupid, under any circumstances,” Bianca emphisised. Percy tried not to feel too offended as he nodded.

Percy stared at the empty thrones, waiting for something to happen. Then the air shimmered. Three figures appeared—Hades and Persephone on their thrones, and an older woman standing between them. They seemed to be in the middle of an argument.

"—told you he was a bum!" the older woman said. 

"Mother!" Persephone replied. 

"We have visitors!" Hades barked. "Please!" 

Hades sat on his throne, he smoothed his black robes, which were covered with the terrified faces of the damned. He had pale skin and the intense eyes of a madman.

Percy could only barely see the resemblance between Bianca and him, while Nico only had similarities appearance wise.

“Percy Jackson," Hades said with satisfaction. "At last."

Queen Persephone only had eyes for her stepchildren. Flickering from Bianca back to Nico. She had lustrous black hair and warm brown eyes. Her dress shimmered with colors. Flower patterns in the fabric changed and bloomed—roses, tulips, honeysuckle. 

The woman standing between them was obviously Persephone's mother. She had the same hair and eyes, but looked older and sterner. Her dress was golden, the color of a wheat field. Her hair was woven with dried grasses so it reminded me of a wicker basket.

What was Demeter doing in the underworld? Not the time to ask though.

"Hmmph," Demeter said. "Demigods. Just what we need."

Nico knelt. Bianca let her brother talk, eyeing her father as if putting him up to the test. Percy didn’t know what she was testing.

"Father," Nico said. "We have done as you asked."

"Took you long enough," Hades grumbled.

Bianca grit her teeth and stepped forward. “We just need to get to the River Styx to bathe Percy, then we’ll be gone, okay?”

“Hmph, was that what Nico came up with?” Hades inquired, sounding judgemental and as though Nico was an idiot. “This quest is a fool's errand, it would be better if you just left him here,”

"What do you want, Hades?" Percy asked. Honestly feeling bad for Nico.

"To talk, of course." The god twisted his mouth in a cruel smile. “Didn’t my son tell you that?”

Bianca was looking as though she was going to explode soon. “Father, please, it’s the best chance we have to save Olympus-,”

“SAVE OLYMPUS,” Hades exclaimed in rage, Persephone put a calming hand on his that made him stop from shouting but he did continue to look mad. “It seems your brothers… _affections_ have made you forget what is meant to happen. You are my child, as soon as the sea spawn is gone, you will be the next in line for the prophecy. Leaving you to be the saviour and for children of Hades to be respected,”

“Father, please be reasonable,” Bianca came forward. “If we lock him down here, people will only see it as a grab for power, we won’t be respected, only shunned,”

“Olympus never has to know what happened to Perseus,”

The older lady harrumphed. Seeing these turns of events as an excuse to start complaining. "I warned you, daughter. This scoundrel Hades is no good. You could've married the god of doctors or the god of lawyers, but noooo. You had to eat the pomegranate." 

Percy knew the story from Persephone's perspective, Bianca had talked about the misconceptions in passing. She had chosen to stay in the underworld, not naively being forced to. Persephone flinched in anger.

"Mother—"

"And get stuck in the Underworld!" 

"Mother, I actually _like_ it here-,"

"And here it is August, and do you come home like you're supposed to? Do you ever think about your poor lonely mother?" 

"DEMETER!" Hades shouted. "That is enough. You are a guest in my house."

"Oh, a house is it?" she said. "You call this dump a house? Make my daughter live in this dark, damp—" 

"I told you," Hades said, grinding his teeth, "there's a war in the world above. You and Persephone are better off here with me." 

"Excuse me," Percy broke in. "But if you're going to kill me, could you just get on with it?" 

All three gods looked at him. Percy could feel Bianca glaring at him for a stupid comment.

"Well, this one has an attitude," Demeter observed. 

"Indeed," Hades agreed. "I'd love to kill him."

“Father!” Both Hades children exclaimed.

"Husband, we talked about this," Persephone chided. "You can't go around incinerating every hero. Besides, he's brave. I like that."

Bianca looked at Persephone, thankful.

Hades rolled his eyes. "You liked Orpheus too. Look how well that turned out. Let me kill him, just a little bit."

"Father, you promised!" Nico said. "You said you only wanted to talk to him. You said if we brought him, and you talked, you’d let him bathe in the Styx,"

“Honestly boy, you are honest as you are dense,” Hades spat out.

Bianca was still grinding her teeth. "You should be helping Olympus! All the other gods are fighting Typhon, and you're just sitting here-,"

"Waiting things out," Hades finished. "Yes, that's correct. When's the last time Olympus ever helped me, half-blood? When's the last time a child of mine was ever welcomed as a hero? Bah! Why should I rush out and help them? I'll stay here with my forces intact.”

"And when Kronos comes after you?" 

"Let him try. He'll be weakened. And my daughter here," Hades looked at her with a mixture of pride and resentful defiance. "Bianca will turn sixteen, in two years, as the prophecy says, and then she will make the decision that will save the world." 

"You're crazy," Percy said. "Kronos will crush you, right after he finishes pulverizing Olympus."

Hades spread his hands. "Well, you'll get a chance to find out, half-blood. Because you'll be waiting out this war in my dungeons." 

“No!” Nico yelled.

“Guards, take Perseus Jackson away,” Hades waved his hands before pausing. “And take my son to his room for good measure, he’s been tainting my daughter, I need her ready for when the time comes,”

Persephone looked as though she was going to speak up for her children, only to be stopped when Bianca came forward.

“I don’t… I don’t get you at all!” Bianca exploded, not literally. Only the tips of her hair burned with a small flicker, but nothing more. “How-how could you say that! You’re supposed to be our father!”

“Bianca-,”

“No, Nico. You’ve been dealing with this bullshit for too long,” Bianca says fiercely with a fire in her eyes. She turned her attention to the gods. Demeter looked surprised, Persephone looked as though she’d predicted this, and Hades…

Percy couldn’t tell. The God of death sat silent in his throne with a judgemental eye but an open ear.

Bianca was walking forward closer and closer to the Gods and further away from where Percy could save her. Her expression murderous, something Percy rarely got to see. “You… you stick us in a hotel, you say it was to save us but you ruined my life. You’ve always ruined my life! Do you know how early I had to grow up! At 12, and even then it wasn’t a choice, it was because we were alone, and we couldn’t remember,”

Bianca had tears in her eyes. “I couldn’t remember what mum looked like! _I didn’t even know if we had a mum_ !” Bianca was screaming louder and louder. “I only now remember what she looks like because I _died_ , and even then, Nico still doesn’t know. Have you ever had to explain to a child how their mother died, have you _ever_ had to explain to one of your children that you love _oh so much_ that the reason they shake in fear while thunderstorms happen is because you can still...still hear your… your mums screams,”

Bianca’s choking on her own tears, but the freight train wasn’t stopping soon. She took a few seconds to compose herself.

Percy had never been told why Bianca was so scared of thunderstorms, he’d seen it in action, sure, but he never knew exactly why.

“Well-,” Demeter tried to cut in.

“I wasn’t finished,” Bianca glanced up again, Demeter looked offended, but she didn’t really plan to pass up on someone insulting Hades, so she just stayed silent. “You… you weren’t even there, you never explained anything. I was always the one who had to give answers. You were meant to be there,”

“I learned I should keep my family close instead of pushing it away,” Bianca, just for a second, stopped looking at her father and looked over to Persephone with a flicker of gratitude. Before refocusing to the God of the dead again. “You’re immortal, you should know better. Pushing people away won’t save them, it’ll only make them suffer, **and what did you do**?”

That voice was something so demonic and filled with rage that Percy flinched back, startled. “Bianca-,”

“ _S_ _hut_ **_up_ ** _Percy_ ,” Bianca doesn’t even look back. “Oh right, I remember now, **father** , you left us in a hotel to forget about and then use as tools when the ‘right time arises,’ and when we don’t work the way you want you treat us as if we’re failures,”

“You should be like a normal parent,” Bianca stuck a finger right in Hades face. “You should be there for me and _Nico_ and-,” Bianca faltered for a second. Before picking back up with the rage. “And maybe if you were actually there I wouldn’t be such a mess,”

“Bianca,” Nico whispered, sounding heartbroken. 

“Maybe, just maybe, if you had actually been there I wouldn’t…” Bianca was crying, so hard. She was choking and sobbing like the dam had been broken through. “I wouldn’t have ruined everything,”

“Bianca!”

“Nico, I literally screwed up so bad that you took years to recover, stop trying to lie just to make me feel better.”

“That’s not true!” Nico tried desperately. But Bianca just turned back to Hades, not accepting her brother's words.

“Family sticks together, Hades,” Bianca rubs her eyes. It was surprising none of the Gods had interrupted her yet. “You weren’t there for me, and you weren’t there for Nico. So if we didn’t stick together, Hades. What does that make you?”

Hades was silent. Staring at Bianca with an impassive look before it faltered. Looking as though he was actually considering her words.

Persephone stared at Bianca. A look of empathy and understanding plastered all over her face. “I’m so sorry you feel that way,”

Bianca curtly nodded. Her mind and focus was on Hades and his reaction.

Percy, for the first time, could see an emotion on the man's face that didn’t have an undertone of rage or gloating. He looked so sad, his shoulders were hunched and his expression lay solely on Bianca. 

As if desperate for some part of that rant to be a lie.

He found no lies, no deceptions, no tricks. Nothing. Except the cold, honest truth.

Hades sighed. Standing up and walking over to his daughter, who was shaking, either from the leftover tears or from the fact she was scared for her own wellbeing.

Hades stood towering over Bianca, and even with the girls shaking figure Bianca stood tall. Percy watched terrified, Nico stood with bated breath eyes flickering back from his father to his sister. 

“I apologise,” Hades whispered out. So small that Percy almost didn’t hear it.

“Don’t,” Bianca said simply. “Just… just don’t dad,”

“Bianca-,”

“Dad, you’ve failed me more times than you could possibly know, and that can’t be fixed with a few apologies and easy promises,” Bianca said simply. “You have to try and make an effort for once,”

Hades didn’t respond, but Percy could see Demeter whispering to Persephone “You know, she’d be more polite if she ate some cereal,”

“Mother!”

“We have a war to fight, dad,” Bianca continued. “You can either join us or leave, I don’t really care at this point, but Percy needs the Achilles curse,”

“...Fine,” Hades relented with a flick of the wrist the skeletons holding down Percy dissipated. “But don’t expect me to help the Olympians,”

“But-father we need-,” Nico tried.

“I won’t help them, you’re already pushing my luck by letting my nephew go,” Hades said simply. Bianca looked over to Persephone, and Bianca, in a fit of pettiness and holding a grudge, walked over to her step mum and hugged her for just a few seconds, before walking away without a second glance towards her father.

Percy walked out of the castle alive and with a newfound fear and _respect_ for Bianca.

As soon as the doors closed Bianca buried her head into her hands.

Nico looked like he wanted to scream. “Bianca. We _need_ our father to win this fight,”

“You think I don’t know that,” Bianca hissed back. “I _know_ we need dad,”

“Then why didn’t you try to convince him! You’re the only one who-,”

“And why is that?!” Bianca screamed. “He’s got _multiple_ children, why is it only me! I’m not going to stay behind doing nothing just to convince a stubborn bitch to join in a fight that he should know he has to already,”

“Bianca,” Nico said softly. “I know you don’t like it but you need to,”

“No, no I really don’t,” Bianca hissed. “My side is with Percy, Poseidon said so. He said I needed to stay with him for advice and as a compass and shit, Nico. I’m not staying to convince Hades,”

“Guys,” Percy watched as both heads snapped towards him. “I… I need to get to the Styx,”

Bianca paused, glancing back at Nico before nodding and walking forward, Nico closed behind her with a scowl on his face.

Mrs. O’Leary led the way back to the river. Wagging her tail along the way. Nico didn’t throw the bone this time.

Ahead loomed the walls of Erebos.

“We’re wasting time,” Bianca decided. Looking back at the castle as if it held all her nightmares (it probably did). “Mrs O’Leary, can you take us to the Styx?”

The word Styx got her excited. She probably thought she meant sticks. The hellhound jumped a few times, chased her tail just to teach it who was boss, and then calmed down enough for Percy to push Nico and Bianca onto her back. Percy climbed aboard, and she raced toward the gates. She leaped straight over the EZ-DEATH line, sending guards sprawling. Cerberus barked, but he sounded more excited than angry, like: _Can I play too?_

Fortunately, he didn't follow them, and Mrs. O'Leary kept running. She didn't stop until they were far upriver and the fires of Erebos had disappeared in the murk. 

0-0-0

Bianca was not okay. In the slightest.

Even if it did feel good to talk back to her father, there were some things she wished she hadn’t said.

But now was not the time to talk about her mental health.

The River Styx's current swirled with strange objects—broken toys, ripped-up college diplomas, wilted homecoming corsages—all the dreams people had thrown away as they'd passed from life into death.

“So envision a person who ties me to the mortal world,” Percy recited what Bianca had said. Bianca nodded. "Sounds fun," 

“This is no joke,” Nico warned. “Now, let’s not…”

Nico trailed off as he turned behind him. Bianca turned to see who he was looking at.

She was beautiful, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, rich and intelligent, even though her clothes showing a life of slavery. Bianca did not recognise the person, most greek myths were men, and the few that were women were either raped or rich, sometimes both. Bianca could see no connection between either.

Nico did though, apparently.

“Briseis,” Nico said in confusion. “I thought Achilles would be here,”

“He couldn’t warn you even if he wanted to,” The woman spoke in an accented Ancient Greek, as if it was not her first language (which it probably wasn’t). “He isn’t in the underworld at the moment, but he will be soon, along with Patroclus,”

“Not in the… do you mean rebirth?”

Oh. Bianca knew what that meant, as in the situation between Silena and Clarisse.

“That is not important right now,” Briseis said. “What’s important is that I warn you, you must go back, you cannot take the curse,”

“He has to,” Bianca insisted.

“I warned the other not to take this path, now I must warn you,”

"Luke? You spoke with Luke?" 

"Do not do this," she said. "It will make you powerful. But it will also make you weak. Your prowess in combat will be beyond any mortal's, but your weaknesses, your failings will increase as well." 

"You mean he'll have a bad heel?" Bianca said. "Couldn't he just, like, wear something besides sandals? No offense."

"The heel is only Achilles's physical weakness, demigod. His mother, Thetis, held him there when she dipped him in the Styx. What really killed him was his own arrogance and grief. Beware! Turn back!"

"I have to," Percy decided. "Otherwise I don't stand a chance." 

"Let the gods witness I tried. Hero, if you must do this, concentrate on your mortal point. Imagine one spot of your body that will remain vulnerable. This is the point where your soul will anchor your body to the world. It will be your greatest weakness, but also your only hope. No man may be completely invulnerable. Lose sight of what keeps you mortal, and the River Styx will burn you to ashes. You will cease to exist." 

"I don't suppose you could tell me Luke's mortal point?" 

She scowled. "Prepare yourself, foolish boy. Whether you survive this or not, you have sealed your doom," 

With that happy thought, she vanished.

Nico and Bianca watched with bated breath as Percy stumbled into the River Styx.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel honestly bad for Bianca when I write her sometimes. She just wanted to chill with her family and now she gets this mess?!


	8. Bianca actually laughs for once

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bianca laughs. Percy questions his sanity. Reyna banters. Hazel notices things and another player joins the field.

Seeing Percy get spit out of the Styx shouldn’t have been as funny as it was.

But Bianca’s sense of humour was hysterical at this point, and seeing Percy being popped out of a river as if rejected, limbs flying everywhere and with an expression on his face that just said ‘oh no,’ Bianca couldn’t help herself.

She burst into laughter, doubling over onto the floor and banging her hand on the soft underworld ground.

“I-I can-ca-can’t fucking  _ breathe _ ,” Bianca choked out.

“Bianca he’s steaming!” Nico hissed out so only she could hear.

Bianca spoke in Italian because she couldn’t resist.  _ “Yes Nico, I know you think he’s hot,” _

Nico spluttered. “That’s not what I  _ meant _ !”

“Oh, fuck I needed that,” Bianca said as she wiped a tear from her eyes. “Seriously though, you okay Percy?”

"I'm fine . . . I think." The colour of Percy’s skin turned back to normal. The pain subsided. Mrs. O'Leary came up and sniffed him with concern. Apparently he smelled really interesting. 

"Do you feel stronger?" Nico asked.

“I… I think?” Percy clutched onto his hands.

“We’ll have to wait and see then,” Bianca said. “But now we need to get out-,”

“What about father?” Nico interrupted. She stopped talking and mulled it over.

“Leave him behind,”

“Bianca!” Nico shouted. “You need to get dad on our side! You’re the only one who can do so!”

“Nico!” Bianca’s hair blazed a bright blue, before she took a deep breath and it extinguished. “Nico… no, I can’t go back there, my place is by Percy’s side. I have a better chance of keeping things on course,”

“Bia-,”

“Nico I  _ can’t  _ go back there,” She rubbed her arm. She didn’t feel safe around Hades, and she didn’t think she ever would if he never changed. “And I don’t even know if he’d listen to me after what I said,”

Nico stopped at that.

“You can try and get him to join, I won’t stop you, but I’m not going back there,”

Her words were final. No room for argument or compromise. She wasn’t going back to her father until he at least  _ tried  _ to be a better parent.

Nico sighed. "All right. I'll do my best."

Bianca smiled at her brother and ruffled his hair. “I’ll see you soon,”

Nico took initiative, running forward and hugging her quickly before letting go.

"Good luck. Now Mrs. O'Leary and us two have to go." Percy cut in.

"Where?" Nico said. Percy looked at the cave entrance and Bianca thought about the long climb back to the world of the living.

"To get this war started. It's time we found Luke."

0-0-0

It was a new day, and Reyna was still having self-care with Cal.

Though this time it was a little different. Last time, Reyna had been exposed to things that she was normally good at, like taking care of her pegasus and (surprisingly) a few dresses. This time it was Cal’s turn to show what she was good at.

She didn’t show her sorcery, while that was something she was good at, it would be the same thing as Reyna training. So instead she did other stuff, like inviting her to her small little cottage, one she’d set up herself (don’t ask how) and taking her to the back garden where there were.

“Chickens?” Reyna questioned. Inside casual wear again, just a SPQR shirt and some jeans. Cal on the other hand, looked like a farmer, she had overalls on, a bright yellow shirt and a sun hat with two sunflowers in it.

“Yes, chickens,” Cal said as she opened the coop. Revealing a family of chickens. “Apparently, there is more than one way to do auguries, it’s just that Oliver's most successful ones were stuffed teddy bear ones. Other ways to read prophecies or predict the future was to ask chickens yes or no questions before feeding them. If they ate quickly, yes, if anything else like not eating it or eating it slowly, that meant no,”

“So will we be performing auguries today?” Reyna asked as she stepped inside. There was one rooster of the bunch, and about five chickens, all of different colours, but all seemingly healthy and happy.

“Oh no,” Cal laughed. “No, just regular feeding, I already performed my readings on whether the siege would be successful, which it will be, today on the other hand-,” She chucked some seeds and grains from the basket in her arm, Reyna had one too, so she began to feed the chickens as well. “-We will do some of my chores, like the chickens and the garden, Hazel is going to come and join us some time soon, and then we’ll finish at lunch time with some time with the whole group,”

Reyna nodded. “You’re inviting Hazel?”

Cal smiled. “She did her distracting yesterday, so now she wants to join us, said we could have a girls day-oh that reminds me! Would you like to help in a braid trail. Hazel desperately wants to braid your hair,”

Reyna, before all of this, would have said no. But now she didn’t see anything wrong with it. Hazel was one of, if not  _ the  _ kindest person in the whole legion. So her coming to do something simple like braiding hair wasn’t an issue to her.

“Sure, I don’t see why not,”

Cal was beaming, it made Reyna want to wear sunglasses before she went blind. Or maybe earmuffs to stop hearing the pounding of her own heart.

“Next job, flowers,” Cal said. Closing up the coop behind her and walking over to the nearby garden to get out her tools. Reyna knew only to watch for this one. If she touched Cal’s garden she was pretty sure she’d be killed.

“Have you… named the chickens yet?”

“Greg and Steve and Stew and Mark and Leighton and one named Chad,” Cal listed off.

“Why are they named after boys when five of them are females,”

“I… when I first got them I just… assumed all of them were boys?” Cal shrugged off with a light embarrassed blush on her cheeks. She was currently pruning a plant that she’d introduced to camp, moonlace.

(Cal had originally thought it had no use, until meeting Thalia and finding out it was one of the main components for moonwater, the equivalent to ambrosia for huntresses. Meaning the 12th legion now had a whole knew, easy to supply, form of medicine)

“How do you assume they’re all boys, chickens are literally all females,”

“I didn’t study chicken anatomy in middle school,”

“You didn’t  _ go  _ to middle school Cal, but that's not the point,” Reyna continued to banter with Cal good naturedly as they pruned and preened the garden.

0-0-0

In twenty minutes Piper and the rest of camp were going to hop onto a van and go to New York.

She was sitting by Peleus, petting the dragons head as it occasionally snorted out smoke. Thalia’s tree on her back, the golden fleece was gone, taken to a safer location, but Peleus was still getting paid to be on duty.

Piper had looked into Katoptris earlier. Leaving her with dread of what was to come.

She’d seen lots of things, Percy flying on Blackjack, Kronos holding his scythe, and most surprisingly, Nico talking to three huge figures, probably gods.

They still only left one conclusion though.

War was coming, and there was no way to stop it.

Piper had hoped she’d have more time with Bianca. More time to spend her life and grow old but it seemed like that wasn’t going to happen.

The chances of her girlfriend dying are astronomical. The chances of Piper herself dying? Even higher.

She sighed and leaned back further into the tree.

“Hi,” Will said. Piper slowly turned to meet him. “Can I sit there?”

Piper looked him up and down a few seconds, before nodding and gesturing for him to sit, which he quickly did so.

“Do you need something, because if it’s blackmail on Bianca I’m not giving it,” Piper mentioned. She knew about the rivalry between the two, or maybe genuine hatred. She didn’t know at this point.

Will rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s… it’s not about Bianca,”

“You need blackmail?”

“No-why are you so insistent about blackmail?!”

Piper shrugged. “People want to find an excuse to hate Bianca,”

Will stayed silent, before mumbling something while blushing bright red, even with his tan complexion. Piper hoped it wasn’t a love confession because she knew she was going to have to say no.

“Please speak up,”

“I… crush on…”

“Will, I can’t answer if I can’t hear you,”

“I have a crush on Nico and I wanted to know how to flirt with him?” Will asked hesitantly, one of his eyes was closed as if he was prepared to book it.

Piper stared, processing. Will started to sweat drop as Piper continued to look him over with tired eyes of a woman who got approximately no nights sleep due to worry. But even if Piper was sleep deprived and had the possibility of her dying in the next three days, she still slowly started to break out into a grin and cackle.

“Uh… Piper? Are you okay-,” Will continued to look over Piper as if she’d gone insane, which was a fair statement considering she was cackling like a villain in a Disney movie.

“I’M A RICH BITCH!” Piper exclaimed. Already planning so many ways to get the two together.

0-0-0

Zagreus hadn’t talked to his mortal siblings before.

He’d seen them in passing, yes. Nico di Angelo had visited the castle a few times, and anyone with a sliver of knowledge knew of the ‘Levesque,’ situation. He knew of them, but he’d never talked to them.

They had mortal lives, they would die. Plus, they usually would have made his mother, Persephone, mad.

But never, never before had he wanted to high five one so hard.

Bianca had spoken back.

Now, Hades wasn’t a  _ bad  _ father to Zagreus, strict and expectant yes but not bad.

But he was a God, he had different tolerances. Hades knew how to raise a God, there were stricter expectations because they grew up fast, there was less affection because they needed it less. Sure, he still told Zagreus good job, and that he loved and was proud of him, but he wasn’t perfect.

(No parent was, really)

It seemed as though his father still doesn’t know how to raise a mortal child.

Persephone was making an effort, learning how to raise a mortal child was hard for a god. To gods mortals were so abundantly  _ fragile _ .

“You’ve really done it this time, father,” Zagreus said as he leaned over the throne. Hades had his head in his hands, knowing that his other son, Nico, would be arriving to try to convince them. “She’s pissed,”

“Since when have you been using human language?”

Zagreus shrugged. “Since I actually started going out, you should try it sometime,”

Hades sighed and leaned back.

“She has got a point though,” Makaria came up behind him. “You were awful to Nico, and to her as well,”

Makaria was always his favourite sister. Mostly because she didn’t really have much competition, but also because of the fact she was a sibling who could cover his ass if he got in trouble.

Hades just continued to stare.

Zagreus knew his father was terrible with mortal children. He was better with daughters though, which must have been a shock to him to know how much Bianca hated him.

It was fixable. Bianca wanted a father, but she wanted a  _ good  _ father. Which she was already getting in the form of Paul Blofis.

“If you want to fix this, you’ve got to be kinder to him,” Makaria said. Already knowing what her father wanted. “Bianca might not want you, Hazel probably doesn’t either-,”

“When did  _ Hazel  _ become a part of this,”

“I talk to mother outside of winter, I happen to visit her more than you do, Persephones been not just talking to Bianca but all of her surrogate children-that’s not the point, the point is that Nico  _ does  _ want you as a father, he wants you to be a part of his family, so stop hosting a pity party for yourself,”

“I’m not  _ hosting a pity party _ ,”

“Father,” Zagreus cut in. “You’ve been wallowing in self pity, don’t deny it,”

Hades grumbled some things.

“Ask Persephone some advice if you need to,” Makaria advised. “She’s already talked to the kids multiple times,”

“There is a war going on, I shouldn’t be-,”

“I thought you were staying out of it,” Zagreus slid in with a grin. “And if you’re going to stay out of it you better use your time for something,”

Hades grumbled some more. Both of his children rolled their eyes. They had a long way to go to help fix this.

0-0-0

Bianca and Percy sat in a taxi. With Bianca taking care of calling Annabeth on her cell-phone, meanwhile Percy thought over what the fuck he’d seen and what weird hallucinations he’d witnessed over the passed… 48 hours?

The first one had been the mist around Rachel. Nothing really too dangerous, just plain old green mist that looked  _ exactly like the oracles  _ hahah. Nothing to panic about there. Next had been Leo being replaced by Beckendorf, and the fact that the ship had been more prepared for Percy’s arrival. After that had been the funeral pier one, which sort of implied that Beckendorf had  _ died _ , which… y’know. Was not good news.

Finally there was the most recent one. The fact Percy had seen an army of the dead marched toward them on the bank of the river Styx. A hundred skeletal Roman legionnaires led the way with shields and spears. Behind them came an equal number of British redcoats with bayonets fixed. In the middle of the host, Hades himself rode a black-and-gold chariot pulled by nightmare horses, their eyes and manes smouldering with fire.

Percy had almost panicked and screamed for Bia and Nico to  _ do  _ something, only to turn around and see an almost passed out Nico and no Bianca. As if she’d never been there in the first place.

Then, of course, everything dissipated back into place. Leaving Bianca and Nico just arguing about the fact that one of them needed to stay behind to convince Hades to join them.

Which. Just what was going on?

Why was he seeing everything going slightly more wrong? Instead of the mission having no casualties, someone died, instead of not angering the lord of the dead, he was charging into battle with his army and a means to kill Jackson in the most painful way possible.

He didn’t like what that implied, and he wasn’t ready to find out what it was.

His hands were trembling. Percy wasn't sure if it was a leftover reaction from his dip in the Styx, the thought of him being insane, or anticipation of what he was about to do. If this didn't work, being invulnerable wasn't going to save Percy from getting blasted to bits.

Bianca rested a hand on top of his for comfort, squeezing it tightly.

Percy squeezed back.

It was late afternoon when the taxi dropped them at the Empire State Building. Mrs. O'Leary bounded up and down Fifth Avenue, licking cabs and sniffing hot dog carts. Nobody seemed to notice her, although people did swerve away and look confused when she came close. 

Bianca whistled for her to heel as three white vans pulled up to the curb. They said Delphi Strawberry Service, which was the cover name for Camp Half-Blood.

The first was driven by Argus, the many-eyed security chief. The other two were driven by harpies, who are basically demonic human/chicken hybrids with bad attitudes.

The doors slid open. A bunch of campers climbed out, some of them looking a little green from the long drive. Percy was glad so many had come: Pollux, Silena Beauregard, the Stoll brothers, Lee Fletcher, Beckendorf, Katie Gardner, and Annabeth, along with most of their siblings. Chiron came out of the van last. His horse half was compacted into his magic wheelchair, so he used the handicap lift.

Even Clarisse came out, seemingly having bigger things on her mind than holding a grudge as she looked distracted. Her eyes kept drifting back over to Silena, who was currently talking to Beckendorf, before snapping her head back to Chris.

Around fifty campers were there. Not enough to fight a war but well? What can you do?

Annabeth came up to Percy’s other side. She had her knife and laptop, the one that she and Leo used on the daily, ready to stab or surf the internet.

She frowned. "What is it?" 

"What's what?" Percy asked. 

"You're looking at me funny."

Bianca snorted in the background, before giggling lightly.

"It's, uh, nothing." Percy turned to the rest of the group. "Thanks for coming, everybody. Chiron, after you."

Chiron shook his head. "I came to wish you luck, my boy. But I make it a point never to visit Olympus unless I am summoned."

"But you're our leader."

He smiled. "I am your trainer, your teacher. That is not the same as being your leader. I will go gather what allies I can. It may not be too late to convince my brother centaurs to help. Meanwhile, you called the campers here, Percy. You are the leader."

Then it happened again. Percy was beginning to predict them at this point.

Fizzling, fading. Some people disappeared, Percy tried to look for a pattern only to see almost all of them were from the Ares cabin. Beckendorf was gone too, and Silena looked far more depressed and guilty than stressed.

Bianca wasn’t there either. Neither was Lee, for some reason.

Percy was really getting tired of these visions.

Anyway, they fizzled back into the proper way of existence. With the people he cared for actually there.

He’d deal with that shit later. Now it was time to deal with the gods and demigods, who were currently staring at Percy for answers.

Percy took a deep breath. "Okay, like I told Annabeth on the phone, something bad is going to happen by tonight. Some kind of trap. We've got to get an audience with Zeus and convince him to defend the city. Remember, we can't take no for an answer." 

Bianca looked up at the empire state building as if it was some sort of sick joke. “A child of Hades visiting Olympus,”

Percy asked Argus to watch Mrs. O'Leary, which neither of them looked happy about.

Chiron shook his hand. "You'll do well, Percy. Just remember your strengths and beware your weaknesses." 

"Let's go," Percy told the campers. 

0-0-0

Hazel was excited as she stood outside Cal’s house. Bouncing from one foot to the other, a habit she’d picked up from her boyfriend.

She’d become friends with Reyna in her time at Camp Jupiter, but she’d never really done anything too abundantly friendly.

Not like Hazel hadn’t offered. Just, every time she did Reyna made some sort of excuse not to go.

So to see that Reyna had agreed to let Hazel braid her hair, made her drop everything just to get to the house.

Cal opened the door of her cottage and smiled. “Well aren’t you excited? Come in, she’s up in my room,”

Hazel scurried in, barging into Cal’s room.

There were bookshelves, many but they weren’t just filled with books, some of them had trinkets and magical items that Hazel knew from experience not to touch. The room was filled with flowers flowing freely too, ready to be used if ever needed for a potion of any sort. Designs for new articles of clothing patched up against any free space of wall. Different magical designs ranging from a purse with endless space to keep items to a sweater that kept the user at perfect temperature.

The best part though, and one Hazel had done herself, was the ceiling. Which was painted with constellations that matched the actual sky to the best of her artistic ability. It had been hard to paint at first, back problems and gravity at first, before Cal did some spells and she was floating in the air able to paint to her heart's desire.

The place was packed, a designer's mess. Reyna lay at the edge of it, on Cal’s colourful bed. One that she’d dyed the colours of the pansexual flag because she didn’t have enough space to put a flag on the wall.

Reyna was probably the only organised thing in the room. Hazel stepped over several books and cups of coffee (now empty, as if Cal would let a drop of caffeine go to waste) before sitting next to Reyna with a blinding smile and hands ready to get to work.

Cal came in soon after and just floated over to sit next to them.

“So…” Reyna coughed awkwardly. “How are we going to do this?”

“I dibs Reyna,” Hazel excitedly.

“Reyna can do me, then” Cal said. Hazel almost blushed at how that could be taken wildly out of context, which was ridiculous, as Reyna had a crush on Jason.

Though…

They shuffled along into a line.

Hazel looked at the two closely again. Cal was oblivious she started to read a good book, flipping back and forth between pages, possibly making some sort of magical bong with her hands.

Reyna on the other hand, was blushing tenderly, barely on her cheeks. Her threading of Cal’s hair was the softest Hazel had ever seen, her hairs worked gently and gingerly. Exceeding with caution and care.

Hazel took to work, while keeping in mind the fact that maybe, just maybe, some emotions were changing.

(Wow, what was going to happen when Jason joined the mix?)

0-0-0

Silena walked into the building clutching onto Beckendorf’s hand.

She enjoyed it, the simple act of safety that came from holding his hand. It wasn’t what Patroclus wanted though, no. He wanted to rush over to Achilles and see him again.

Couldn’t she just enjoy what she had now. Sure, it wasn’t love. Not the same love he felt for Achilles, not the drive, the passion and the undying commitment Patroclus felt. It was only an attraction, it was only a crush.

But wasn’t that enough? Why couldn’t she just let her own love grow, instead of part of herself holding back for a person who’d already moved on.

“Hey,” Beckendorf whispered, as the first group went into the elevator. “So um, I just wanted to talk to you? If that’s okay,”

“Of course,” Silena said.

Beckendorf looked at Silena. “I… know we’ve been a little… rocky lately. And I don’t know if I did something to upset you or make you mad with me, but I just wanted to say sorry,”

Silena startled up. “No! No, you did nothing wrong Charlie, I’ve…” Silena sighed. “I’ve just been going through a lot,”

“So, I did nothing wrong?” Beckendorf was hesitant. He acted like he was big and strong, but under all of that muscle there was a teddy bear.

“No! It wasn’t you it’s just… complicated and Lee’s just the only one who can really help, I’m sorry,”

“It’s fine,” Charlie smiled. Small, he didn’t do big smiles but the small ones felt just as radiant. “So, if nothings wrong between us I wanted to talk about something else,”

“And what might that be,”

“College,”

Ah. Right. Silena was growing up. She had to go to more school. With all of the shit going on she’d forgotten about that part.

“I was planning to go to Richmond uni. It’s near to my mom, so we could just drive over to visit her. I’ve told her all about you, she makes the best cookies and would love to meet you,” Charlie smiled at her.

Richmond, Virginia was where Charlies lived now. It also wasn’t too far away from Tennessee. Where Silena herself lived, meaning she could visit her dad and Lee’s from time to time as well.

It was perfect. Which made it feel horrible.

Here. She had this perfect boy. Absolutely in love with her.

And yet… Silena shook her head, lightly getting herself out of her train of thought.

She kissed Charlie on the cheek. “That sounds lovely, I’ll think about it,”

Then they went into the elevator to go up into Olympus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I started to play the game Hades, first thing I got to say. Rick did not give Nyx justice. And since I own this story I can change it however I see fit. Be prepared for that.   
> Also, Zagreus. Man.  
> Anyway! Hope you enjoyed!


	9. What's a soulmate?

Was Silena ever going to be happy?

If she stayed with Charlie, would she feel as though part of her was missing. If she never went with Clarisse, would she feel inadequate for the rest of her life?

She knew she was in love. But did that mean she had to stay that way. Her soul called out-.

Soul

 _Soul_.

As Silena stood in the elevator she knew what to do next.

0-0-0

Mortals were… hard to understand for immortals.

Well. Most anyway.

They changed all the time in such a short time that they had. It was hard to keep track of what they liked and disliked if they took the approach that most olympian gods did. Which was being absent.

Persephone on the other hand, knew of this change. She’d seen the seasons change, people live life to the fullest while also wallowing away in the underworld, and she’d seen it in herself. She’d changed from Kore to Persephone. From little girl to bringer of death.

So, anyway, it was easier for her to understand her mortal children. A lot better than her husband at least.

Now, she loved her husband. Bianca had once asked her why she loved him and the fact of the matter was that he was a good husband. He was kind to her and he cherished her. Like he should.

That didn’t mean they didn’t have their ups and downs though.

Persephone was currently in the kitchen. Three out of her six children were in the room, eating cereal because Demeter was visiting and if she saw anything that wasn’t cereal she’d have a fit.

Melinoe wasn’t there because she’d joined the titans. Hazel wasn’t either because she was still at camp Jupiter and waiting for the paperwork to be filled out that allowed her to go into the underworld and Bianca…

Well, she’d left to do her duty. Nico had stayed to do his.

She was the first to speak up.

“I… wanted to apologise for Hades’s behaviour,” Persephone said. Brining all of the focus onto her. “It was wrong and horrifying what he said,”

Nico nodded, eyes holding a thankfulness as he took a bite out of his cheerios.

“I’m sure you want an explanation,” Makaria cut in. Twirling some of her blonde hair. “It’s a lot of things combined into one but basically, to dumb it down, it’s a mixture of grandmother coming over, the war, the fact that Percy Jackson was in the room and that… well… he was basically trying to do the exact opposite method he did on his last son,”

“What do you mean last son?” Nico poked up. Intrigued.

“I’m… sure you’ve heard of him,” Persephone cautioned. She’d never liked him, even as a person. That was understandable, anyone with a liquor of sanity hated him as well. “Hades tried so hard to be supportive, he’d built him up and encouraged. He wasn’t stern at all-,”

“That doesn’t sound like father,” Nico narrowed his eyes.

“Oh believe us,” Zagreus leaned back in his chair, which Persephone should have scolded but he was a grown god. If he fell over he wouldn’t crack. “It was a surprise, could hardly believe my eyes were working,”

“Unlike popular belief dad does want his kids to be happy,” Makaria got back on track. “So he tried a new tactic, but it failed,”

“We’ll sort him out though,” Zagreus smiled a troublemaker grin. Ruffling Nico’s hair, who swatted at it. “Don’t worry, maybe even as an added bonus he’ll help fight against the Titans,”

“Maybe,” Nico commented as he went back to eating his cereal. His shoulders did seem a little less tense though. “Where… is father?”

“Currently arguing with grandmother,” Makaria sighed. All of them didn’t like the presence of Demeter in the house. It only made things tense and if ready for arguments. “Why’d he even bring her down here anyway?”

Persephone snorted. “Oh he didn’t have a choice in the matter, mother found him trying to take me to safety. Said he was ‘kidnapping,’ me again, so he floundered and said he was taking the both of them,”

“You really don’t like her, do you?” Nico asked.

“She treats me as if I’m still a child, sometimes still calls me Kore, so yes, I don’t like her,” Persephone says. “Why do you think I looked so relieved each time I visited one of you, I got a break from all her talking about cereal,”

Nico chuckled. The rest of them continued to talk for some time.

0-0-0

Bianca looked on as blue lights streaked across the evening sky toward Olympus like tiny comets. They seemed to be coming from all over the city, heading straight toward the mountain. As they got close, they fizzled out. They all watched them for several minutes and they didn't seem to do any damage, but still it was strange.

"Like infrared scopes," Michael Yew muttered. Lee nodded from the side. "We're being targeted."

"Let's get to the palace," Percy said. No one was guarding the hall of the gods. The gold-and-silver doors stood wide open. Footsteps echoed as they walked into the throne room.

The place was the size of Madison Square Garden. High above, the blue ceiling glittered with constellations. Twelve giant empty thrones stood in a U around a hearth. In one corner, a house-size globe of water hovered in the air, and inside swam the Ophiotaurus, half-cow, half-serpent. 

"Moooo!" he said happily, turning in a circle. 

Bianca saw Percy smile. Which honestly made her feel a lot better.

“Hey, man," Percy said. "They treating you okay?" 

"Mooo," The thing answered. 

They walked toward the thrones, and a woman's voice said, "Hello again, Percy Jackson and Bianca di Angelo. You and your friends are welcome."

Hestia stood by the hearth, poking the flames with a stick. She wore the same kind of simple brown dress as she had before, but she was a grown woman now. 

Percy and Bianca both bowed. "Lady Hestia." 

Their friends followed their example. Hestia regarded Percy with her red glowing eyes. "I see you went through with your plan. You bear the curse of Achilles." 

“You WHAT?!” Clarisse’s shout ran through the hall as she suddenly stood up and marched over to Percy. Her eyes were filled with fury but her soul was… in agreement. “Do you know how _stupid_ of an idea that is-,”

“Clarisse,” Bianca cut in. Some part of her was tempted to say Achilles. “Now is not the time,”

It was almost weird seeing how in sync the two of them were. The two personalities, one a girl from Arizona, another a hero who died in the line of duty. They’d synced, become the same person. The exact opposite of Silena. Who was at a literal rivalry with her past life.

Some part of her wondered whether she should intervene, on the love life affairs, but really she had enough problems at the moment.

“You told him to do this didn’t you,” Clarisse pointed at her. “Well it’s a stupid idea-,”

“Clarisse,” Bianca glared. While death came from war that did not mean the two always got along. “We can talk about what happened to Percy _later_ , when we don’t have a goddess in front of us who you are currently _ignoring_ ,”

Clarisse huffed but went back to bowing. Hestia nodded in thanks, while Percy only looked confused.

"You must be careful," Hestia continued to warn Percy. "You gained much on your journey. But you are still blind to the most important truth. Perhaps a glimpse is in order." 

Annabeth nudged Percy. "Um . . . what is she talking about?"

His knees buckled, but Annabeth grabbed him. "Percy! What happened?" 

"Did . . . did you see that?" Percy asked.

"See what?" 

The goddess's face was expressionless to what had just happened. Bianca didn’t know what had happened either, but she didn’t like it. 

"How long was I out?" Percy muttered. 

Annabeth knit her eyebrows. "Percy, you weren't out at all. You just looked at Hestia for like one second and collapsed." 

Percy had everyone's eyes on him.

"Um, Lady Hestia," Percy said, "we've come on urgent business. We need to see—" 

"We know what you need," a man's voice said. Or more accurately, a god.

A god shimmered into existence next to Hestia. He looked about twenty-five, with curly salt-and pepper hair and elfish features. He wore a military pilot's flight suit, with tiny bird's wings fluttering on his helmet and his black leather boots. In the crook of his arm was a long staff entwined with two living serpents.

That was Hermes. He didn’t look happy.

"I will leave you now," Hestia said. She bowed to the aviator and disappeared into smoke. Not that Bianca blamed her, she wished she could do the exact same thing.

"Hello, Percy." His brow furrowed as though he was annoyed with Percy.

Percy bowed awkwardly. "Lord Hermes."

Then after a few seconds he spoke up again. "Hello, George, hey, Martha. Um, Hermes? We need to talk to Zeus. It's important." 

Hermes's eyes were steely cold. "I am his messenger. May I take a message?" 

The other demigods shifted restlessly. Bianca wanted to get out of here. 

“Bianca," Percy said. Gaining her attention. "Why don't you take the campers to do a sweep of the city? Check the defenses. See who's left in Olympus. Meet Annabeth and me back here in thirty minutes." 

Bianca thought about it. “But-,”

"That's a good idea," Annabeth said. Knocking her head in a scram kind of manner.

She sighed, taking in a deep breath and turning to the campers. “Travis, Conner, lead them out,”

Both of them nodded in delight, usually only leading toilet paper raids. Bianca followed behind the campers. Closing the door as they went.

Bianca wanted to talk to Piper and she also wanted to talk to Leo. Before she could even go anywhere though, Silena was standing right in front of her face. “Can we talk?”

Checking to the side, seeing that Travis and Conner were doing just fine without her, Bianca nodded.

“You can see souls, can’t you?” Silena asked. “So is there such a thing as soulmates?”

Bianca paused. It was a question she’d been asked before in passing. But this seemed legitimate. If she didn’t know about the whole Patroclus situation she’d probably give a yes or no answer, but this deserved more than that. 

“There isn’t _truly_ a thing like soulmates, but…” Bianca thought for a second, trying to word everything right. 

“Rebirth… sometimes the souls don’t want to truly forget,” Bianca remarked. “Whether it be out of love or hatred, some souls don’t want to forget, they want to live their life all over again,”

Bianca turned to Silena. “And I think that's pretty clearly soulmates in my opinion,”

Silena chewed her lip. Before nodding and scurrying off to go off with Lee. While Bianca continued to walk around, searching for the two she’d started her new life with.

Then she spotted Leo in the corner, adamantly talking to Piper and rushed over towards the two. Leo noticed the movement and locked eyes with Bianca, before breaking into a wide smile and tugging on Pipers jacket.

Piper turned and spotted Bianca.

“Hey angel face,” Piper had a smile that just made the world around her melt. Bianca just couldn’t not kiss her. So she did. A quick peck on the lips because she could.

Leo made a noise of disgust. “Keep it in the bedroom you two,”

“Leo!” Bianca blushed. Leo chuckled at her expression.

He was wearing suspenders, the usual, a camp shirt underneath his white button on. He started wearing his suspenders more mostly because he would match with Hazel, who usually now wore overalls when she could.

“Well, I better get going. I got a box _filled_ with repurposed phones to hand out, see you two!” Leo made a break for it, probably trying to get out of the romantic atmosphere since he couldn’t see Hazel at the moment.

Piper turned to Bianca again. She was wearing a flannel jacket and some jeans, with a loose belt that held Katropis in it. It was the same outfit as yesterday, but it wasn’t like she always wore that.

Some time ago she was wearing dresses.

Piper had used to like wearing them. Especially with Lee’s influence and the firework night she’d started to wear dresses more often. Cute flowery ones that she’d twirl around when in a good mood.

Then the comments had come.

The catcalls, the whistles, the _very_ unwelcome ass grabs and minor sexual assaults. They wouldn’t do it whenever Bianca was around, even before the two were dating, but whenever Piper was alone with a dress some random man would comment on her boobs or her ass.

It was uncomfortable, it made her girlfriend feel unsafe.

So Piper just. Stopped.

She tried to look as unfeminine as possible. No makeup, hair messy and unclean and a little bit greasy, covering up more and making her body as unflattering as possible.

Bianca had once caught her trying to use ace bandages because it had reached that point. Piper had broken down, saying she didn’t want to be a sexual object.

(Bianca had brought her a safe binder the next day, Piper had never smiled brighter)

Piper would always be beautiful to Bianca, but whenever she complimented Piper that's never what she focused on. Bianca knew that her girlfriend didn’t want to be complimented like that, she wanted to be complimented on her personality, her soul.

Not how much of a sexual object she was.

Bianca clutched her girlfriend's hand, hoping she was doing this right.

“Please tell me you brought a sports bra today instead of a binder?” Bianca didn’t want her girlfriend getting hurt.

Piper nodded. “I’m not an idiot Bianca,”

“Good good, just making sure,” Bianca let out a tiny sigh. “Sooo, I was wondering whether you wanted to go check with me alone-,”

Piper winced. “Sorry I just… look so you remember that crush that Nico has somehow been hiding successfully from you for the past year,”

Nico had only told Piper. Piper and only her about his homosexuality and crush. Mostly because she was the only other gay influence that he trusted and personally knew.

Bianca nodded. Weird subject changed but okay.

“Well, I _might have_ found out who he is-,”

“Who!” Bianca beamed. Bouncing around just a bit. “Is he nice? Do you think he’d be good for Neeks? I need answers woman!”

“Calm down,” Piper said with a tiny hint of charmspeak. “He’s… well… I’m going to evaluate him, and if he’s good, give him tips, but you have to promise me not to peek on who he is,”

“Why?!” 

“Look, I know you want to know, and I know this is the one secret you don’t know but… well you would kind of rush into things and just… trust me on this okay. I’ll make sure Nico gets a nice boyfriend by the end of the week,”

Bianca desperately wanted to know. She wanted a 50 stage essay of everything to make sure her brother was happy and cared for. But she trusted that Piper new what she was doing. “Okay, you do what you gotta do, just… do you think they deserve the chance?”

“I… think so?” Piper looked unsure, which did not help Bianca’s nerves at all. “They’re nice and chill when they want to be but also headstrong when it comes to what they’re passionate about, sometimes to the point of overworking themself, sooo,”

“Huh,” Bianca marveld. “Sounds… like a good person,”

“Mhm,” Piper nodded. “It’s time for me to go, don’t follow me,”

“Wait! Just before you go,” Bianca kissed her on the cheek. “I love you, amore,”

“Love you too,”

And Piper was off.

0-0-0

Reyna would never, ever admit it to anyone but she was nervous.

As she was being dragged to the cafe by two very excited girls (not her), in her new dress for the day, and a hairstyle that had flowers braided into it, she realised she was scared.

Reyna got scared, it happened before when she was younger. Being scared and having fear was a sign of being human, but honestly, the last time she’d been this scared was when she was on the pirate ship.

There was now no reason to be _this_ afraid. Reyna was rational, she was being hinted by Bethany that she could take over as Praetor. A leader did not have time for fear and anxiety.

Except right now Reyna wasn’t a leader, or a diplomat or a soldier. Right now with two of her friends she was just a teenage girl. An extraordinary one of course but still just a teenager.

So yes, she had anxieties.

Reyna was worried that all the effort Cal put into this was going to be for nothing. She was worried Cal would be disappointed and sad if Jason said no.

Jason had been getting hints from Reyna for a long, _long_ time now. Reyna had never asked him outright though, and that was the issue.

He’d never encouraged, but he’d never told her to stop.

So now it was time for an outright confession.

“Are you excited?” Cal had a bounce in her step, Hazel was right beside her, just as bubbly. “I’m excited, I can’t wait!”

“There he is,” Hazel whispered as she tugged on Reyna’s arm and pointed.

Jason looked _amazing_. Sky blue eyes, close-cropped blond hair and a small scar on the corner of his lip. For a long time nobody knew how he got it, but ever since he’d found his sister with the hunters of Diana, he’d found out he got it while eating a stapler.

Jason, upon spotting his friends, waved and beckoned them to sit down at the table he’d saved. Hazel was the only one to wave back.

Right before they got close Cal whispered in her ear, so close it sent shivers up her spine. “Now, don’t worry, just be confident, okay?”

Reyna nodded.

0-0-0

“Is that a gun?”

What a way to start a conversation. Some part of Piper was panicking, but then she remembered this was America, the US of A. 

Will Solace nodded. Piper didn’t feel any safer.

“Why do you have a gun?” Piper asked. “Who allowed this you’re like 13,”

“I’m only a year younger than you,”

“Yeah! Still practically a baby!” Piper exclaimed. “Now who allowed you to use one. Was it Lee?”

Will laughed. “As if Lee would let me use a gun, he’s way to overprotective for that, Kalya snuck it for me,”

Piper gulped.

“Don’t worry, I’m much better with a gun anyway,” Will assured her. She didn’t feel any safer. 

They kept walking.

“You um…” Will started to speak. It was just the two of them as they walked down the street, no other half-bloods, but mortals did occasionally pass by. “You never answered me,”

“About what?”

“About whether you’d help me ask out Nico,”

Piper… really hadn’t. As soon as she’d yelled I’M A RICH BITCH she’d run off to get into the van because it was time to go. Internally she’d been all for it (or at the very least to give it a go) but externally she’d looked like a madwoman.

So now was the time to question him and give him advice.

“What sort of advice do you want?” Piper said. “Because, even though I have a girlfriend, I have no idea how I got her. You are currently also asking the least romantic Aphrodite child,”

“I don’t know what to do,” Will said. Looking like he was finally about to burst, as he spoke. “I mean, would he like to have an old fashioned movie, or maybe extra old fashioned and dance, maybe I should take him to the cemetery? There's also the fact I need to actually ask him out? How? Like, he isn’t at camp a lot, and right now he’s in the underworld, and there is also the fact that he could be _straight_ -,”

“Okay, first off, deep breath,” Piper oozed in a bit of charmspeak. “Second off, all you need to do is flirt your way, I mean, have you done the gay eyes yet?”

“They don’t work,”

“I _know_ they don’t work but have you done them yet?”

Will sighed. “Yes I’ve done them,”

“And?”

“He’s from the 1940’s I don’t think he knows what those are,”

Piper knows from experience that the underworld siblings don’t know what they are.

“So just flirt a bit, next chance you get, then ask him out,”

Usually Will had the ability to seem calm in any situation, but right now that mask was gone. “But he could be dead by the time I try-,”

“Okay look, stop stressing, I know that doesn’t help but just take a breath. Now look at me.” Piper stared at Will, who was nodding along with her. “It’s going to be fine,”

Will nodded.

“And once Nico comes all you need to do is be yourself-,” Piper stopped speaking, and began to listen and look around. Will stopped too.

“What? Do you hear something?”

“No,”

That was the problem.

New York was silent.

0-0-0

Reyna had gone off with Jason. It was just him, and her.

“Reyna?” Jason asked, tilting his head only slightly. “What’s the issue,”

He was still her friend. No matter how he reacted Reyna knew they could still be friends. She took in a breath. Remembering to just be straightforward, it was the best way to see whether he’d respond.

“I was wondering whether you would go out with me?” Reyna almost closed her eyes in suspense. “Like on a date?”

Jason stood for a few seconds. Blinking. Before his face slowly began to contort into sympathy, which already gave Reyna her answer before he even spoke. “Look… Reyna I’m sorry. I don’t feel that way towards you,”

“Okay,” Reyna whispered in a voice so small she hardly even recognised it. “Thats… it’s fine,”

“I’m sorry,” Jason repeated. “I… shouldn't have led you on I… Can… can we still be friends?” Jason asked hesitantly. He looked afraid of her saying no.

Even now Jason valued their friendship, it was somewhat relieving. Reyna nodded, slowly and purposefully.

Internally she felt disappointed. That as though all that work went to nothing. That all the time and attraction she’d had for Jason was just thrown out the window. He wasn’t interested and he probably never would be.

Another part of her, small but still there, was somehow relieved. It let out a breath that Reyna never knew was being held. It was weird, but it felt good that not all of her was uselessly sad.

Her and Jason walked back to the table. Talking like friends, and only friends. When Hazel and Cal made eye contact with her she shook her head. Both of them wilted a bit.

Hazel gave her a sympathetic smile but didn’t stay on it for long, as she started to openly converse with Jason. Cal on the other hand looked down at the coffee in her hands and wouldn’t look back up at Reyna.

Reyna didn’t know how to feel. But she knew that now time was up. Her heart would be locked up for the time being. After all with the war going on she didn’t have time to look for love that wasn’t there.

0-0-0

Cal knows what it’s like to be left behind. She knows what it’s like to be rejected.

Each of those times though the Fates had split it. There was an excuse. It was for the greater good.

Now though, she couldn’t understand why Jason could say no.

Jason was so abundantly lucky to have Reyna looking at him like that. She was an amazing woman, maybe a little bit lacking in confidence but with someone by her side giving her confidence she could be even better than she was before.

He’d turned that down. He’d turned down Reyna.

It wasn’t his fault though. No one was to blame.

Still, Cal wanted Reyna to be not like her and yet she’d just set her up to suffer the same way.

She didn’t know how to fix it.

0-0-0

Lee stood by Silena.

Most of the other campers weren’t back yet. So it was just them alone.

Silena looked out at the city, she already knew what was going to happen to it. She had talked in depth about it with Annabeth, Lee hadn’t been there to see it, but he had heard about it when Silena talked to him.

Silena always talked to him. They were inseparable friends so it made sense that they would talk so much.

“Where are you going for college?” Silena asked out of the blue. Staring at the silent city below.

That… was an unexpected change of subject.

“I don’t know,” Lee admitted leaning on the edge a bit. “Maybe I’d stay in Tennessee? I haven’t really thought about college that much,”

He’d mostly thought of it as an unobtainable dream. He wouldn’t live long enough to be a psychologist anyway.

“Charlie told me to come to university with him,” Silena mentioned, which made a lot more sense to why she’d talked about it. “I didn’t even think about it until he said it,”

They both stayed in silence.

“If…” Silena started to speak again. “Would you judge me if I chose… if I chose…”

“I wouldn’t,” Lee answered. “For either of them, I can’t judge what your soul decides,”

It's not his place to.

Silena let out a breath filled with relief. “Thank you,”

“It’s no problem,”

Lee went up close to Silena and clutched her hand in support. He wished he could do more to help her but he couldn’t

“Silena,” A voice, gruff and warlike, called from behind them. Lee turned around to see Clarisse (Achilles? Maybe) standing in amour straight back. Entirely alone, Chris off by himself somewhere.

Clarisse was staring at their intertwined hands as if deciding whether to rip them apart by force. Lee knew how strong Clarisse was and did _not_ want to experience that.

“Clarisse!” Silena’s voice was a higher pitch. More nervous than usual. “Is something wrong,”

“We need to talk,”

“I… now?”

“Yes, now,”

“I…” Silena looked over to Lee in a pleading manor to get her out of the mess. Now Lee could see she was only stopping the inevitable but well, she was his friend and he had to help.

“You can’t,” Lee stood in front. Which was not a good decision by all accounts because while Clarisse is only slightly taller than Lee they are both built very differently. Lee’s built like a lanky lad, legs unnaturally stretched as if he was put through a Wonka stretcher. Clarisse on the other hand is pure muscle, rage and skill. She is thick and could pound Lee into the ground with one punch; it's ridiculous. Honestly Lee’s pretty sure he’s going to die.

“And why not? I need to talk to hi-her,” Lee noticed the slip up. Ohhhhh boy. But now is not the time.

New york is silent and any minute now people are going to start piling-.

Campers started rushing in at that exact moment. All immediately going to the tourist binoculars to see what was going on. Each of the counsellors though (All three of them) immediately got swept up by the people of there cabin.

“That’s why,” Lee shouted at Clarisse over the noise as he started to get dragged away by Michael and Kayla.


	10. Nico does a powerpoint (with some help of course)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silena is just awesome, honestly.

Persephone walked towards her husband, who was sitting in his throne looking out at the fields of asphodel.

Her children were all doing different things. Makaria was distracting Demeter by taking her to the kitchen (where the nymph Euryidce resided), Zagreus and Nico were talking and planning for… _something_. Persephone didn’t know the details and, they only said it was a surprise. So that left her time to finally talk to her husband alone.

The first thing she did when she came up to him from the side was kiss his cheek and bury her head in the crook of his neck. 

“I missed you,”

“You survive six months without me each year, I’m sure you are fine,”

Persephone frowned. “Don’t remind me of those traumatic experiences,”

Hades snorted. He shifted a bit, allowing Persephone to come and sit on his lap. The two of them had a height difference. He was tall, regal and while he didn’t bother himself with muscles, he was big. Perfect cuddling size for Persephone’s small stature.

Persephone was small, it was a sad fact about her.

“...She hates me,” Hades' voice was depressed, accepting but so undoubtedly depressed.

“She does not,”

“It’s the truth,”

“It isn’t,” Persephone insisted. “She doesn’t _hate_ you. Bianca just wishes you could be kinder,”

“Persephone I don’t know where to _start_ ,” Hades stressed out. “She hates me, you heard her. You _saw_ her. She was holding that in for so long. I thought she was happy, it was the only reason I let her stay in the Jackson residence. I was… wrong,”

She knew how affected her husband was by what Bianca said. She leaned into him. “You forget something. She wants you to be her father still, she never said you couldn’t fix things only that it would be difficult,”

“I’m not good at… emotions, I tried to be better but I haven't,” Hades confessed like it was a secret. Which it really wasn’t, Hades was bad at expressing any emotion that wasn’t negative in front of anyone that wasn’t her. Even his godly children he had trouble expressing his pride with. 

“You just need to open up,” Persephone suggested. “Trust in your children's intelligence,”

“Is this an attempt to make me help my Olympian relatives?” Hades asked, squinting a tad.

“No, though in all honesty that would be the biggest step forward, trusting that your children have chosen the correct choice in action. They aren’t stupid,”

“While they most definitely aren’t, there decisions are influenced by the affections to the Jackson boy,”

“He’s a better influence than you know,” Persephone adjusted herself a bit as she turned to look out over the biggest part of her kingdom. Not even their castle could amount in size to the space in asphodel. “But back to the Olympians, I can distract my mother with Makaria,”

“I thought you would love to fight,”

“I would,” Persephone confirmed. She was quite cold-blooded for her stature as goddess. “But your relationship with our daughter is more important,”

“Give me one good reason to help the Olympians,” Hades said obviously rhetorically.

That’s when the door to the room banged open. Zagreus stood in front, wide smile that only could cause trouble, Nico beside him holding up large pieces of paper. “I’m glad you asked father!”

“... How long were you listening to our conversation?” Hades asked, as his sons sauntered into the room. Nico handing Zagreus the cards.

“That is unimportant,” Zagreus said as they stood in tandem. “Now, Nico, take it away,”

Nico cleared his throat as Zagreus flipped a card to reveal a brightly coloured bubbly sign that said “REASONS TO JOIN THE WAR,”

“You didn’t,” Hades groaned. Persephone was trying to hide her laughter.

“Reason one,” Nico pointed to the newly flipped card. Hades whispered a small, horrified and terrified you _did_ that made her nearly burst. “Hestia is a nice goddess and it would be a shame to see her die,”

Persephone cleared her throat to stuff down the laughter, before talking into her husband's ear. “He’s got a point, remember when you still thought Bianca was dead and didn’t want to go to the winter solstice, but still wanted to know what happened, so Hestia set up a vision through the hearth,”

Of course, then it had turned out that Bianca was _alive_. Still, her husband decided to watch with Hestia, seeing as Bianca had been deciding to walk through the underworld at the time and he wanted to be there to greet her.

Hades, nodded. Slowly. He took that point before turning to her sons. “Hestia does not have a throne, she will survive in the underworld once Olympus falls,”

Zagreus muttered a small damnit, before turning the card. Nico only glared at his father for a second, continuing.

“Reason two, Hermes, unlike Hestia, will als-will die if you don’t help and Olympus gets destroyed,” Nico continued before Hades could talk about how annoying Hermes was. _“Which_ since Hermes is the god that leads dead souls to the underground, make it so that Thanatos and you will have to work overtime, while also fighting for around two years,”

Thanatos was already overworked so much. It was probably the only reason Makaria and him didn’t tie the knot already.

“We can handle it,” Hades said. “You have nothing to concern yourself with,”

Persephone could tell that the two were getting through to him though. So she nodded at them to continue going.

The next card came.

“If, and this is a very big if, the Olympians win _without_ you they will regard the House of Hades as cowards, as the only two people that will have truly fought in the war will have been both your daughters, each for different sides,” Nico listed off.

“What about Hazel?” Persephone asked.

He looked like he’d been expecting that. “At the moment she’s a soldier, not a leader or a goddess, and with how… well _prejudiced_ the Olympians can be they won’t count her,”

“Like a bunch of little bitches,” Zagreus whispered. She pretended not to have heard.

“The Olympians won’t win without our help,”

“Thats exactly the point!”

“Honey,” Persephone was still in her husband's lap as a reminder. Nobody really minded. “Please go up you need to-,”

That's when two people in the room froze. Instant, both at the same time but obviously with no planning to. Hades and Nico were as still as one of medusa’s statues. They both had a look of horror slowly morphing onto their faces.

Zagreus looked between the two. “Did something happen?”

Just then, Nico took a step back and melted into the shadows. A hand over his mouth but his father making no move to stop him.

“Hades,” Persephone shook his arm just a bit to get him out of his state. “Honey are you okay? What happened?”

Hades had a hand over his mouth. His eyes showed a horror she hadn’t seen in a few years, and instead of feeling enlightened like she had last time, Persephone felt like praying for her to be wrong.

“Is she dead-?”

“No,” Hades’s answer was instantaneous but no less comforting. “But she’d dying, and fast,”

“Who?” Zagreus asked from the side as if it wasn’t already obvious.

Hades turned to his son. “Bianca,”

0-0-0

Annabeth was the planner. The one who always thought ahead.

While that didn’t mean the rest of the people she knew weren’t smart, it did mean that they relied in her to know what the next course of action was every step of the way.

So when Silena had told her about being the spy, several courses of action took her mind.

Telling Percy had been a big one at the time. But still, not a good idea. He’d been thrust with so much new information in one day, he wouldn’t have enough brain power to compute the fact that one of his friends was a double agent.

Next, after that had stopped being an option, was how to use Silenas influx of information.

See, Silena had her _own_ thing going on, but that thing always went away whenever Annabeth needed information. So she stopped worrying about it, Lee said he had it all under control anyway.

Some plans, misdirection. They wouldn’t be able to keep the battle going for long, three days at most. Killing as many monsters as fast as possible, such as saying there were no traps on that bridge then _kaboom_ twenty monsters dead in one explosion, even with the set back of losing their spys secrecy, was an acceptable option, but a risky one.

She had to play it smart. Being safe was not an option. Caution, to an extent was good, but the reason the civil war lost so many lives was due to caution from the United states. They waited too long and then they were outnumbered.

Caution was good. Fumbling and anxiety was not.

She was not losing more lives, she couldn’t let the fact that Luke was on the other side of that bridge affect her. Focus on a plan.

As they went to the ground, Annabeth pulled Bianca aside. Which by this point campers had learned to not see as something questionable.

“What is it?” Bianca leaned against the wall. Her hoodie still in tact and her sword clip in her hair. Annabeth could tell she just wanted to be with her family. Maybe alone with her lover somewhere. (You and me both, Annabeth thought).

“You… know about the Silena situation, right?” It was hard to tell how much Bianca knew all the time. She kept secrets close to her chest, only waiting for the right time to reveal them.

Bianca perked up. “Which one?”

“There’s more than one?”

“Yes-but I’m guessing you’re talking about the spy,” Bianca saw her nod. “Bingo, okay, yeah I know about that. What do you want to ask me?”

“I… wanted some input,” Annabeth admitted.

“Excuse me?”

“Look, I know we don’t get along the best,” Understatement. Both of them could be bitches or best friends depending on the day. “But… I need to let down my pride, you know a lot more than you let on, I need to know whether what I’m planning will work,”

Bianca’s jaw slacked just a bit before she brought it right back up and coughed into her hand. “Ye-yeah sure I mean, of course! What did you have in mind?”

“We are going to send the cabins onto different bridges, I don’t know which ones yet all I know is how to plan ahead. Silena tells the other army to go down the Hephaestus cabin bridge, when the first few start dying and she sees it she’ll start to talk about how they misheard them, using charmspeak to convince everyone that whoever is receiving this-,”

“That won’t work,”

“How?”

“Simple. While most of it is good, and all you have to do is tweak it a bit, you seem to think the necklace goes to just a high up commander,” Bianca said. Looking Annabeth straight in the eyes. “It goes to Time Lord, and only him. While I trust in Silena’s abilities I don’t trust them _that_ much,”

Annabeth winced. Trying not to think about Luke. “So how do we adjust? I need to make sure we keep Silena’s status as long as possible,”

Bianca and Annabeth talked. Continuing to plan ahead, strategies most outcomes and give advice to the other. Except for some reason Annabeth felt like she was only getting a lick of information that Bianca owned.

They came out with a plan of what to tell Silena to say.

Argus was waiting for them with his hundred eyes wide open, Percy next to him. Argus didn't say anything. He never does. His face made it clear he was freaking out. 

Percy was telling him what they'd learned in Olympus, and how the gods would not be riding to the rescue. Argus rolled his eyes in disgust, which looked psychedelic since it made his whole body swirl.

“You'd better get back to camp," Percy told him. "Guard it as best you can."

He pointed at Percy and raised his eyebrow quizzically. 

"I'm staying," Percy said.

Argus nodded, like this answer satisfied him. He looked at Annabeth and drew a circle in the air with his finger. 

"Yes," Annabeth agreed. "I think it's time." 

"For what?" Percy asked.

Argus rummaged around in the back of his van. He brought out a bronze shield and passed it to Annabeth. She set it on the ground, the reflection on the polished metal changed from sky and buildings to the Statue of Liberty—which wasn't anywhere close to them.

"A video shield?" Bianca said.

Annabeth nodded. “Leo and I found notes on it in our laptops, one of Daedalus's ideas. We built it over the year, along with other things,”

Leo popped out of nowhere. Proud of one of his inventions and ready to show it off. “The shield bends sunlight or moonlight from anywhere in the world to create a reflection! You can literally see any target under the sun or moon, as long as natural light is touching it. Look."

Leo concentrated, Annabeth hoped it worked or else all that that work would go to waste. The image zoomed and spun at first. The image was in the Central Park Zoo, then zooming down East 60th, past Bloomingdale's, then turning on Third Avenue.

“Whoa," Connor Stoll said. "Back up. Zoom in right there.”

"What?" Annabeth said nervously. "You see invaders?" 

"No, right there—Dylan's Candy Bar." Connor grinned at his brother and Leo. "Dudes, it's open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Connor!" Katie Gardner scolded. "This is serious. You are not going to loot a candy store in the middle of a war!"

"Sorry," Connor muttered, but he didn't sound very ashamed.

Leo passed his hand in front of the shield, and another scene popped up: FDR Drive, looking across the river at Lighthouse Park.

"This will let us see what's going on across the city," Leo repeated again. Giving it to Annabeth. “Take good care of it,”

"Thank you, Leo.” Annabeth thanked, before also quickly saying goodbye to Argus as he began to leave.

Argus grunted. He and the two harpy drivers swerved away, weaving around clusters of idle cars that littered the road.

Annabeth turned to Leo. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep it? You were the main one who invented it?”

Leo waved her off. “Ha! The day Beckendorf lets me use a weapon is the day I see pigs fly,”

A small smile formed on Annabeth’s face. “Seriously, you haven’t even got a knife?”

“It’s safer for everyone that way,” Leo said in a grave voice. “But I do have a hammer though!”

Annabeth felt like she was watching her seven year old self. It felt dangerous for him to be out there, without any weapon. She turned to Bianca to bring up her concern, thinking the girl would agree with her, only to see her completely unconcerned.

Interesting. She pocketed that information for later.

Pollux crouched next to a sleeping policeman. "I don't get it. Why didn't we fall asleep too? Why just the mortals?"

"This is a huge spell," Silena Beauregard said. "The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want to sleep millions of mortals, you've got to cast a very thin layer of magic. Sleeping demigods is much harder." 

Percy stared at her. "When did you learn so much about magic?" 

Silena blushed, Annabeth knew she’d be fine. "I don't spend all my time on my wardrobe."

“Annabeth,” Leo pulled her sleeve back to the shield. Pointing at what was in front of him.

The bronze image showed Long Island Sound near La Guardia. A fleet of a dozen speed boats raced through the dark water toward Manhattan. Each boat was packed with demigods in full Greek armor. At the back of the lead boat, a purple banner emblazoned with a black scythe flapped the night wind.

"Percy," Annabeth called. "You'd better see this."

Percy came over and instantly froze.

"Scan the perimeter of the island," Percy said. "Quick." 

Leo shifted the scene south to the harbor. A Staten Island Ferry was plowing through the waves near Ellis Island. The deck was crowded with dracaenae and a whole pack of hellhounds. Swimming in front of the ship was a pod of marine mammals. They were telkhines—sea demons. 

The scene shifted again: the Jersey shore, right at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. A hundred assorted monsters were marching past the lanes of stopped traffic: giants with clubs, rogue Cyclopes, a few fire-spitting dragons, and just to rub it in, a World War II-era Sherman tank, pushing cars out of its way as it rumbled into the tunnel.

“Fuck,” Leo whispered in horror. Basically the exact mood of everyone.

"What's happening with the mortals outside Manhattan?" Bianca said. "Is the whole state asleep?"

Annabeth frowned. "I don't think so, but it's strange. As far as I can tell from these pictures, Manhattan is totally asleep. Then there's like a fifty-mile radius around the island where time is running really, really slow. The closer you get to Manhattan, the slower it is." 

She showed another scene—a New Jersey highway. It was Saturday evening, so the traffic wasn't as bad as it might've been on a weekday. The drivers looked awake, but the cars were moving at about one mile per hour. Birds flew overhead in slow motion. 

"Kronos," Percy said. "He's slowing time." 

"Hecate must be helping," Lee Fletcher said. "Look how the cars are all veering away from the Manhattan exits, like they're getting a subconscious message to turn back."

"I don't know." Annabeth sounded really frustrated. She _hated_ not knowing. "But somehow they've surrounded Manhattan in layers of magic. The outside world might not even realize something is wrong. Any mortals coming toward Manhattan will slow down so much they won't know what's happening."

"Like flies in amber," Piper murmured.

Annabeth nodded. "We shouldn't expect any help coming in." 

Everyone looked stunned and scared, and Annabeth couldn't blame them. The shield had shown them at least three hundred enemies on the way. There were around fifty campers. And they were alone.

“All right," Percy said. "We're going to hold Manhattan." 

Silena tugged at her armor. "Um, Percy, Manhattan is huge."

"We are going to hold it," Bianca said. "We have to."

"He's right," Annabeth said, going over to Percy’s side with the shield in her hands. "The gods of the wind should keep Kronos's forces away from Olympus by air, so he'll try a ground assault. We have to cut off the entrances to the island."

"They have boats," Michael Yew pointed out.

"I'll take care of the boats," Percy promised

Michael frowned. "How?" 

"Just leave it to me," Percy said. "We need to guard the bridges and tunnels. Let's assume they'll try a midtown or downtown assault, at least on their first try. That would be the most direct way to the Empire State Building. Lee, take Apollo's cabin to the Williamsburg Bridge. Katie, Demeter's cabin takes the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Grow thorn bushes and poison ivy in the tunnel. Do whatever you have to do, but keep them out of there! Conner, take half of Hermes cabin and cover the Manhattan Bridge. Travis, you take the other half and cover the Brooklyn Bridge. And no stopping for looting or pillaging!"

"Awwww!" the whole Hermes cabin complained. Well, all the ones that were actually Hermes children.

"Silena, take the Aphrodite crew to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel."

“I’ll go with you,” Bianca stood forward, Percy opened his mouth to disagree before closing it and nodding. Bianca walked over to Piper and readjusted her armour. Kissing her lightly. “As if I’d fight anywhere without knowing you were fighting with me, amore,”

The girls all were squealing as Piper smiled and kissed back. “We’re gonna kick so much ass,”

"Oh my gods," Valentina "Fifth Avenue is so on our way! We could accessorize, and monsters, like, totally hate the smell of Givenchy."

"No delays," Percy said. "Well . . . the perfume thing, if you think it'll work."

Annabeth felt a snicker of jealousy as most of the Aphrodite children kissed Percy on the cheek. She tried to ignore it, Piper gave her that knowing look though.

"All right, enough!" Percy closed his eyes. "The Holland Tunnel. Beckendorf, take the Hephaestus cabin there. Use Greek fire, set traps. Whatever you've got.”

He grinned. "Gladly. We've got a score to settle.”

"The 59th Street Bridge," Percy said. "Clarisse, take the Ares cabin, crack skulls, instill fear and make sure you get out of that battle respected,"

Clarisse nodded. Before she took a breath and exhaled, looking ready to slaughter. Her siblings cracking knuckles, absolutely ready to kick some ass.

“Lincoln Tunnel can go to the Athena cabin, Malcolm you’re in charge,” Annabeth said, like hell she was leaving Percy’s side. “Activate plan twenty-three along the way, just like I showed you. Hold that position."

"You got it."

"I'll go with Percy," she said. "Then we'll join you, or we'll go wherever we're needed."

"No detours, you two." Leo said. Making many campers begin to giggle, Annabeth and Percy decided to ignore it.

"All right," Bianca said. "Keep in touch with your cell phones."

“They have cell phones?” Percy asked in a bit of confusion.

Bianca came forward, obviously having been the one to order this. “Every camp leader should have a cell phone, each with the others' number ready to be called. We didn’t have enough to do every person, so this was the best we could do,”

She handed Annabeth and Percy their phone. Annabeth scrolled through to see every cabin having a phone number, except for Dionysus, Hera, Artemis and Zeus, but Percy, Annabeth, Bianca and surprisingly Leo had their own special ones.

“No prank calls, while these guys are good we haven’t tested with an influx of calls. Only call if you need Percy, Annabeth, and if it’s really desperate, me. I can shadow travel, but it is limited,”

“Wait, do we get to keep these?” Travis asked.

Bianca looked to Leo, who shrugged and nodded. “Sure, why not?”

Most of the campers with phones beamed at the new turn of events.

“Well then,” A voice all so familiar to Annabeth said. “Where does that leave us?”

Annabeth had never been happier to hear anyone in my life. A band of thirty adolescent girls crossed Fifth Avenue. They wore white shirts, silvery camouflage pants, and combat boots. They all had swords at their sides, quivers on their backs, and bows at the ready. A pack of white timber wolves milled around their feet, and many of the girls had hunting falcons on their arms.

The girl in the lead had spiky black hair and a black leather jacket. She wore a silver circlet on her head like a princess's tiara, which didn't match her skull earrings or her Death to Barbie T-shirt showing a little Barbie doll with an arrow through its head.

"Thalia!" Annabeth cried. 

The daughter of Zeus grinned. "The Hunters of Artemis, reporting for duty."

0-0-0

How did Bianca feel about seeing some of the hunters again? Iffy.

See, some of the hunters were happy to see her again, even with her not joining them, having the face to face knowledge their sister had lived another day was great. Others were mad that she hadn’t tried to join back immediately. Some didn’t even know who she was.

Phoebe smiled at her, warm and welcoming. Bianca smiled back but still kept her distance.

"Where have you been the last year?" Percy asked Thalia. "You've got like twice as many Hunters now!"

She laughed. "Long, long story. I bet my adventures were more dangerous than yours, Jackson."

"Complete lie," Percy said. 

"We'll see," she promised. "After this is over, you, Annabeth, Bianca, and me: cheeseburgers and fries at that hotel on West 57th."

"Le Parker Meridien," Percy said. "You're on. And Thalia, thanks."

She shrugged. "Those monsters won't know what hit them. But where to put us?"

“Actually, split them into groups,” Bianca suggested. “Small groups for archery support, each with their own personal leader,”

Some of the hunters looked fine with that, understanding that they were such a large group and there was nowhere else to go, others looked like they’d rather be doing _anything_ else.

Thalia slowly nodded. Before turning back to the hunters, her electric blue soul sparked with leadership. “Phoebe, lead your group with the Demeter cabin, Sipriotes take some members with the Aphrodite cabin, Parthenos go with the Athena cabin, Iphigenia-,”

Bianca noticed, just for a second, Silena and Clarisse perked up at that name, meaning Patroclus and Achilles _knew_ her.

Bianca tried to think back about who Iphigenia was. Then she realised it was the girl who Artemis demanded be sacrifice before the start of the Trojan war. She was tricked by it pretending to be a marriage to Achilles, it was instead a murder.

Though some accounts say that Artemis saved her last second. Which seemed to be the case.

“Iphigenia, go with the Ares cabin, take a few with you, only your favourites. Naomi, Apollo cabin and Celyn, Hephaestus cabin. Hermes cabin already has enough, they’ll be fine,”

Which… was fair.

“Hunters! Move out!” Everybody instantly scattered. She slapped her silver bracelet, and the shield Aegis spiraled into full form. The golden head of Medusa molded in the center was so horrible, the campers all backed away.

The Hunters took off down the streets, followed by their wolves and falcons. They’d give them a bit more time before they’d have to go out to war.

"Thank the gods," Annabeth said. "But if we don't blockade the rivers from those boats, guarding the bridges and tunnels will be pointless." 

"You're right," Percy said.

Bianca looked at the campers, all of them grim and determined. She tried not to feel like this was the last time she'd ever see them all together. 

"You're the greatest heroes of this millennium," Percy told them. "It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win." 

He raised Riptide and shouted, "FOR OLYMPUS!" 

They shouted in response, and our forty voices echoed off the buildings of Midtown. For a moment it sounded brave, but it died quickly in the silence of ten million sleeping New Yorkers.

Bianca took Pipers hand and whispered “For you,”

Piper chuckled, the last one she’d probably see for a while. “You dork,”

Bianca walked down the street. Silena now back from talking with Annabeth on what to say to Kronos and telling the time lord those things.

Piper walked right by her side, a constant and a comfort. The calm before the inevitable storm.

She held her knife close to her, she’d been in battle before, so she wouldn’t be useless, but still. A knife against an army was not a good fit. Luckily she wasn’t alone.

Silena was in front, riding her Pegasus, Barley. Brown, proud and looking absolutely ready for combat. Barely flapped its wings in anticipation from time to time, but Silena kept her horse under control.

Bianca didn’t go near the animal, she knew from experience it wouldn’t like her.

“Any words of encouragement Silena,” Piper said. Her siblings nodded behind her, little Lacy was shaking just slightly.

Silena looked back, her eyes seemed to age. Bianca could see Patroclus having a temporary agreement with Silena. Now and only now would they agree. They weren’t going to let anyone die.

Silena cleared her throat. “Love is ruthless, it may be kind to its allies but to its enemies it’s a force of destruction. It has brought monsters to its knees and soldiers to beg. You are children of love, _we_ are children of love, tear them apart so they never get back up,”

Holy _shit_.

The Aphrodite campers cheered. Bianca knew this encouragement wasn’t for her but even she felt inspired.

The campers ran into battle. Rushing to where Sipriotes was already leading the huntresses.

It seemed like most of the dispensable and easily shootable monsters were gone, as a layer of gold glitter already was on the floor.

Silena shot forward on her horse, riding towards a Chimera that was hissing and scratching off in the distance. Piper shot off to the left to face a particularly brave giant. Bianca shook off all concerns, now was not the time to focus on other people.

She looked at the sight in front of her and froze. Standing in full hunters of Artemis gear was the dead and decaying ghost of Zoe Nightshade.

She blinked. Before shaking her head. “Hello Melinoe, it’s been a while,”

Zoes form hissed before it slowly shimmered to a woman Bianca hated having to call her sister. She got her sword into the right position and herself in the fighting stance.

“I wonder how Nico will react when he sees your ghost back in the underworld,” Melinoe mused as they began combat.

Melinoe only used her hands, long claws either black or white. She swiped straight at Bianca, who dodged to the best of her ability. This was a goddess, straight up combat would not be the best option but it was the only option she had.

Another clawed hand came down, only for Bianca to twist her foot and body, dodging by inches. She slashed her sword at the goddess, only for it to faze through her at will. As if she was a ghost.

“Gods dammit,” Bianca hissed.

Melinoe smirked and continued. Slashing down at Bianca, everytime only barely rolling or dodging out of the way. But she was the only one who even had the _chance_ to stop Melinoe through combat.

New tactic, Bianca thought as she slashed at a Hellhound that tried to attack her while she was so focused on the goddess.

Melinoe, seeing her chance, practically lunged forward, making Bianca crash onto the floor with her armour. Her sisters' chalky and mummified face staring down at her with delight. Melinoe’s hands came down to strike, only for Bianca’s swords to clatter against them.

For a second, Bianca wondered why she didn’t faze through. Only to realise the reason was because Melinoe wanted to kill her with her own sword, as she struggled under the weight her sword began to move closer and closer to her own neck.

Shit. SHit. SHIT.

Bianca gulped. Her shaky sword nearly cut her neck, and seeing how it was stygian iron that was like a death sentence.

Melinoes grin widened.

She tried to think of a way out, she couldn’t overpower the goddess, she couldn’t roll. So forward and side were out.

What about backward?

Bianca breathed out and let the shadows consume her. Engulfing her state and sending her out of Melinoe’s frightening wretches. Quickly, she stepped out again in the middle of the battle field, looking down the see Melinoe on the ground with nobody in her hands.

She took out her sword to strike at the head, a quick decapitation to help slow her down.

Bianca nearly hit when Melinoes face turned around, only to shift into Zoe again. “Bianca…”

She hesitated and froze. That was all the time Melinoe needed as she came forward and slashed across Bianca’s chest.

Normally, armour would be able to cover that. But Melinoe could phase through anything, goddess of ghosts, so it went straight through to the skin.

Bianca screamed in pain, feeling herself begin to bleed already. It hurt like a bitch and she didn’t know how to make it stop.

“You-you whore,” Bianca stumbled out. Her back was to the enemy army, but she smelled so much like death that most of the monsters didn’t want to touch her.

“I’ll see you in the underworld, favourite,” Melinoe hissed out. Disappearing into mist.

She picked up her sword again and turned back to the army. Now wasn’t the time to focus on the wound that was getting bigger and bigger on her chest. She first turned to see where her girl friend was.

Ice was in her hair, as well as some gold sparkles, her lip was bleeding and she might have had a sprained ankle, but even with Piper facing some empousa she looked to be holding her own. Silena was still on her pegasus and she was bleeding but she seemed to have defeated the chimera. How? Bianca didn’t know.

Bianca felt tired, like she wanted to fall into a slumber and never wake up. The screaming of passion and to fight coming from the other campers made her shake her head and focus again. Lift her sword and fight.

She would come out of this war singing if it was the last thing she did.

0-0-0

Piper knew something was wrong, she could feel it.

She didn’t know how, she didn’t know what emotional bond was making her feel like Bianca was in trouble, but she knew her girlfriend was.

Even when Kronos’s forces started to retreat (for now) Piper rushed over to her side. Needing to know what was going on.

Bianca turned to her and tried to take a step forward. Only to collapse into Pipers arms, and not in the romantic way. She was burning up, looking to the point of collapsing, her breathing was ragged.

She was dying.

“Silena,” Piper's voice became more panicked. “SILENA!”

Silena instantly rushed over on Barley. Took one look at Bianca’s almost unconscious form and dragged her onto the horse. Letting Piper get on as well, who focused on keeping Bianca stable.

They flew back to the plaza. Piper using her charmspeak to keep her girlfriend from dying.

“Hey, hey stay awake, don’t you dare fall asleep okay?”

Bianca groaned.

When they arrived at the plaza there weren’t any Apollo kids yet. There were a bunch of demigods, all with injuries that would, in the end of the day, be livable. Bianca’s would not.

“We need an Apollo kid! Now! I don’t care which one!” Piper yelled as she rushed into the room. Everyone, knowing they’d die for it later if they didn’t, moved out of the way. Silena stumbled with her phone in her pocket, before quickly dialing a number and hoping for the best.

“Lee, Lee we need you here-,” She paused. “It’s Bianca, she’d dyin-no we don’t know from what-what do you mean you’re _busy_?!”

Silena talked for a little more, before hanging up and tucking her phone into her pocket.

“Is he coming?”

“Few things, apparently Lee is already booked, Annabeth got stabbed so Percy needs him. Though that doesn’t mean that help isn’t on the way,”

“Michael?” Piper asked.

“He’s dead,”

“Oh. Oh _wow_.” Piper blinked. Not having the time to process that a person was dead. When her girlfriend was dying in front of her. “So Solace it is then,”

That's when the shadows shifted, rippling and showing out a person that Piper knew all to well Nico di Angelo. He surveyed the area checking up and down before his eyes locked on Bianca and he rushed over.

He’s eyes were pure black, filled with barely hidden rage.

He didn’t say a word, only let Piper continue to charmspeak as he held Bianca’s hand in a tight grasp. Bianca herself was looking more like death by the second.

Then Lee, Percy and Will burst into the room. Lee and Percy were hushered to were Annabeth was by Beckendorf, at the same time Leo and Will made their way over to Bianca. Leo looked as though he didn’t know what to say, his face was paler than usual and his cheeky smile was gone.

Will took one look, then he took a breath. “Nico, Piper, Leo, help me get her to a bed, we can’t do this on the floor,”

Piper nodded. As she picked Bianca up though the girl hissed in pain. “It’s okay, it’s okay I got you,”

“Am I gonna die?” Bianca slurred out, looking terrified at the possibility.

“No,” Nico spoke for the first time in a croaky voice. “Don’t you _dare_ ,”

“Okay,” Bianca croaked before she passed out. Piper felt like panicking, but she somehow kept her cool. Bringing Bianca down onto a couch. Slowly, Will began to take off her amour only to reveal a sight that horrified her.

Five long gashes ran across her chest. From her left shoulder down to her right hip, and it was definitely going to leave a mark. It looked magically given, the wound was oozing black with white spots.

“What the fuck,” Will didn’t exclaim it, only whispered, but it didn’t help that he seemed to have no knowledge of what this could be.

Nico instantly recognised it though. “Melinoe, that _bitch_ ,”

“Who?” 

“Our sister, goddess of ghosts, nightmares and funerary rights,” Nico listed. “She did this on purpose, she’s trapped Bianca inside an eternal nightmare while the wounds slowly turn her into a ghost,”

Piper felt like killing a goddess and she was pretty sure everyone else did too.

“Is she going to be okay?” Leo asked.

“I don’t know,” Will looked at them. “Nico, stay here, keep her tethered to the overworld and tell me what to do. I’ll do basic procedures but if I’m missing something-,”

“I’ll tell you,”

“Piper, Leo, out,” Both started to protest but Will put his hand up. “Don’t, the doctor knows what he’s doing, you need to go,”

Piper was going to hell for this, she knew it. But she was a person who ran more on emotion than logic. So she began to speak in charmspeak. “We can just hover by the side, we won’t distract you or anything, please,”

Will, being influenced by the charmspeak, nodded, gesturing for her to get out of the way. 

Piper was fast in her movements, snatching onto Leo’s hand and practically dragging him across the floor to watch from a distance while talking in whispers.

“This is my fault,” Piper whispered, putting a hand over her mouth as small tears leaked down her face. “I’m sorry,”

“Pipes,” Leo put a hand on hers. “Explain before you blame,”

“I should’ve kept a better track on her, I should have looked out for her more, I got a feeling she was hurt but I didn’t o anything now she could die and it’s all my fault,”

“Whoa! Pipes look, it’s okay, you shouldn’t have had to do anything,” Leo hugged her close for comfort. “And she’s going to be fine, Bianca’s going to be just fine,”

Piper really hoped Leo wasn’t lying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment! Big, small any size! I don't mind rants (they're always lovely) but comments are my only form of sustenance. And hearing what you think of the series can sometimes help me positively change it for the better


	11. Mourning is a part of war but nobody likes it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I made Apollo kids cry :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like, I might have some emotional whiplash in this because sometimes its Will and Nico being cute and other times its just mourning for Michael.

The moment Will got Bianca into stable condition people sighed with relief.

He had done the simple things. Pour nectar on the wounds, patch up as much as he could, sing a hymn and make sure that Nico didn’t pass out while keeping Bianca from dying.

Bianca might have been Wills nemesis, she might have been the biggest obstacle in Wills life. Though that did not mean that he would just let her die. She was his patient, and no matter what personal preferences he had Will was not going to let her die.

Which had paid off in the end when Will took a step back and realised he’d done it. Bianca’s only problem now was the fact that her dreams were nightmares.

“She’s going to be fine,” Will assured. Piper and Leo rushed back over, by their sisters' side. Nico looked undoubtedly relieved as he stared at Will with a thankful look. While Will didn’t blush at the attention it did make butterflies flutter in his stomach.

“Are you sure?” Piper stroked Bianca’s hand.

Will nodded. Turning to Nico, who now that the immediate threat of his sister dying was gone, looked far more relaxed.

“You’ve been under a lot of stress,” Will said gently. “Why don’t we get you somewhere to rest?”

Nico, in no condition to argue, and seeing that two other people could rush to Will in case something happened, let himself be dragged away from Bianca’s recovering body.

“How are you feeling?” Will asked.

“I’m fine, I wasn’t even in the fight,”

“No, I mean, emotionally,”

Nico was silent. Before he whispered in a quiet voice, one so quiet that Will had to lean in closer just to hear. “It felt like her dying all over again, I-... I felt like I was ten again. I don’t think I could have gone through it again,”

Nico’s hands were shaking more than Wills, so he interlocked them. Nico flinched, ever so slightly, as if Wills hands burned, before he slowly relaxed and melted into it.

Soon they found a couch to sit on out in the open lobby. Other people were around, moving and talking. Most of the huntresses weren’t there, but nearly all of the demigods were. Kalya and Austin were hard at work patching up as many people as possible. Lee just finished up patching Sherman Yang from the Ares cabin before he spotted Will.

Will really didn’t want to talk about it, he knew what Lee was coming over to say but he really didn’t want to talk about it.

He knew he’d have to though.

“Hey,” Lee came over in his ‘I’m here for you,’ voice. “It’s fine if you need to take a break,”

Wait what?

“...Are you sure?” Will knew he was the best doctor in all but phycology, so this came as a shock. “I mean, I shouldn’t have to-,”

“Will, no ones going to blame you for mourning,” Lee knelt down to his level. “Sure, you’re going to need to get back up soon. But the fightings stopped, the Demeter and Aphrodite kids have offered to help, and I know that you’ve just done some complicated surgery, so take a break,”

Thankful that he hadn’t had to make the decision for himself, Will leaned back into the couch. Lee nodded in Nico’s direction, who nodded back. “I’ll be just around the corner if you want to talk though,”

Will mumbled a small okay and watched as his brother left the two of them alone.

Earlier today if he had alone time with Nico he would’ve used all that time flirting or questioning. Now all he wanted to do was curl up and cry.

Will was good at facades. He was good at not showing he was panicking while in a medical situation. Now though, he just wanted to do nothing more than cry.

Nico spoke up in a gentle voice. “It’s okay, he fought bravely,”

Will leaned against Nico’s shoulder and started to let small tears fall down his face. Nico looked like he’d panic for a few seconds, before he let out a calming breath and began to rub slow circles on Wills back.

He recognised it. It was what Bianca would usually do whenever a person cried on her.

(Still emulating his sister, even now).

0-0-0

Silena had been the one to tell everyone that Bianca was in a stable condition.

First had been Lee, who’d sighed in relief, happy not to have lost another sibling. Next had been Percy and Annabeth, who while having their own lovey dovey problems to deal with still seemed invested in the conversation, as they both took long breaths out.

After that… Silena didn’t know what to do.

Should she tell Kronos’s army more? She’d already told them that there were traps on all the bridges, so that the troops take their time and send the easily dispensable first. It had helped the huntresses pick them off-.

The huntresses!

_ Patroclus wanted to talk to one of them _ , and Silena didn’t protest in the slightest.

She made her way around the lobby, passing injured people without giving much more than an excuse me. She had a situation to explain and another one she had to procrastinate on.

When she came up to where Iphigenia was she started walking faster, only to realise half way through that someone had beaten her to the punch.  _ Achi _ -Clarisse was standing in front of the twelve year old huntress. Guilty and ashamed but to anyone else she would be looking neutral.

Silena tried to back away slowly, maybe she could go back to Lee and try and get him to actually have the time to mourn Michael? Then, of course, just her luck, Clarisse turned around after Iphigenia pointed her out.

They locked eyes.

Gods those fucking eyes.

She felt herself melting. __

_Achilles had only given him one look and he was gone, Patroclus_ _didn’t know how his rebirth had ever chosen Beckendorf when Achilles was just around the corner. He wasn’t miles away like they had feared. He was right there in front of him._

_ He was right there he could have him again. Patroclus could be whole again- _

Silena shook her head, only noticing now that Clarisse was right in front of her and Iphigenia was gone.

“Hey,” Clarisse said.  _ He’d always been the one better with words. _

“What did you tell her?” Silena asked.

“The truth. How I didn’t know and how I should’ve reacted faster-,” _ Achilles had never truly washed the blood off his hands for that death. Others had the excuse of enemies, this was a twelve year old greek child. _

_ She was alive though. That was good. Small mercies. _

Did Silena want to do it all over again?

_ Patroclus did. He wanted to see Achilles again so badly. He wanted to redo every moment with that man to a fine detail, just to get one more chance with him. _

But Silena wasn’t Patroclus, not anymore. She’d lived 16 years without those memories, she was her own person now, not a memory of a dead hero.

_ ‘You loved her before you knew of me _ .  _ Stop deciving yourself.’ _

‘I’m happy with Beckendorf.’

_ ‘You’re happier with Achilles.’ _

“Shut up,”

“I didn’t say anything,” Clarisse stared at Silena. Her gaze was hard but somehow softened when looking at her. She loved the attention but also simultaneously hated it.

“Sorry, just...” Silena tried to think of an excuse but she couldn’t. So instead she sighed. “We need to talk,”

“That we do,”

Silena didn’t know what to say or how to start. So she looked internally. 

‘If you screw this up by kissing her I’m revoking all chances.’

She let herself fall back. And Patroclus fell forward.

He blinked. Grabbing his past lovers hand, it was different, after all in his past life he’d been able to know who Achilles was with only his touch. This was a body he wasn’t used to, a whole new map to explore.

Clari-Achilles cupped his cheek smiling at him widely. Patroclus was so delighted to see him again, no matter what form he took.

“Hello,” Achilles whispered.

“I’m sorry for taking so long,” Patroclus melted. “ _ She  _ wants to stay with Beckendorf,”

“She?” Achilles’s questioning tone made him realise his answer warranted more explanation.

“Silena,” Patroclus clarified. “She wants things like college and a normal life and thats fine, but she doesn’t know whether she wants you or Beckendorf,”

Achilles blinked. “You haven’t… that makes a lot of sense actually,”

“Haven’t what?”

“You two aren’t the same person,” Achilles had a look of understanding. “You’re different people, that… must be hard sharing a body with someone else,”

“You’re not?”

“No, we both want the exact same thing,” Achilles smiled, twirling some of the hair that accented Patroclus’s face. “You,”

A shiver ran up his spine. “What about the Chris boy,”

That had been Patroclus’s worry. The Hermes child, Chris, might have been the thing to make him fully resonate inside his rebirths form but that did not mean he wasn’t worried. Achilles could have moved on.

“I didn’t know whether I’d find you, I only figured it out at the meeting,” Achilles admitted it sheepishly. “So I went for the next best thing,”

“Next best thing?”

“Well, I mean he  _ looked  _ like your old body and he was a good impulse control,” Achilles was only digging a deeper hole. “But he’s not you, and we didn’t fully work, so we broke it off,”

Patroclus felt ecstatic. Now there was only one thing keeping him from Achilles was himself, or more accurately, herself. As Silena was still on the fence.

_ Of course I’m on the fence. Why can’t you just be happy with Beckendorf, he’s lovely. _

Achilles is right in front of me. That is the only reason I need. Why can’t you just call it off with Beckendorf? You’re just being stubborn.

_ … we’re in the middle of a war. I can’t break up with him now. _

Please Silena. Just, Clarisse makes you happy, I want to be happy. We both want to be happy.

_...Give...me some time to think it over. _

Patroclus blinked. That was a start, and a good one at that. He looked back at Achilles. “I need to go,”

He looked anxious but accepting. Nodding his head in affirmation.

As Patroclus turned around slowly the positions changed as Silena began to be the one walking again. She didn’t stumble when she finally got full control of her body, didn’t fumble or try to gain her grips, all she did was continue walking over to where most of the Hephaestus kids were. Leo was still with Bianca’s body.

“Do you know where-?” Nyssa immediately pointed to the left. Quickly Silena hurried in that direction. Passing by some of the other campers before she found herself in front of her boyfriend.

“Charlie,” Silena whispered out. Collapsing against him, for the first time  _ Patroclus just let it happen, though he seemed to be restraining himself. _

“Silena, are you okay-?”

“Distract me,” Silena said. “Talk about anything please,”

Beckendorf wrapped a hand around her and pulled her in closer. “I know stuff sucks now but I can’t wait until after this. Like, I’ve been talking about making Leo the new camp counsellor, I know he’s not the best but he’d do great in a leadership position. Oh! And the golden dragon, you remember that? Yeah I still haven’t thought of a name but Leo did! He decided to call it festus,”

Silena smiled a bit. She knew she was going to pick whether to break this off or not, but for now at the very least she could enjoy what she had. 

0-0-0

Lee, as soon as he knew everyone had medical attention and was fine, went to Bianca’s room.

While he trusted Silena and knew she’d never lie about this, he still needed to make sure for himself.

(And maybe if he could ask a few questions)

He’d just finished with Percy and Annabeth, both of whom had also been asking whether Bianca was alright, he’d left the two alone for now.

Lee knew he should have time to grieve. He was meant to, that was his sibling after all, he’d died in battle under Lee’s command and…

Michael was dead, and Lee needed to know where he would end up.

Lee rounded a few more corners before coming into Bianca’s temporary room. He bristled at the sight of her.

Her face was paler than usual, she had multiple bandages littered around her body, expertadly wrapped and carefully done. They looked like they’d need changing soon though. Her hair was sticking to her face and she kept staring up at the ceiling, not looking at either of the two people sitting beside her. Occasionally Lee would hear a raspy sound that, embarrassingly, it took a long time for him to notice it was Bianca speaking.

He opened the door wider. Creating a small creaking sound that made attention turn to him.

“I need to change her bandages,” Lee said. “You two need to leave,”

Piper was about to protest when Bianca spoke up in a raspy voice. “Go, I’ll be fine,”

Leo was already leaving, Piper following after him. 

“Make sure no one interrupts us.”

Leo chuckled just a bit. “Sure, you got it doc,”

Piper closed the door with a small click, leaving Bianca and Lee alone.

“Do you need some water,” Lee asked as he went over to a nearby tap to wash his hands.

“They tried already, it stopped hurting but I still sound like the dead,” Bianca said with a gentle wince as she shifted herself into a seating position. Her entire chest was covered in bandages, she was the worst hit, even though she was one of their best fighters. Bianca caught him staring, or maybe just felt his emotions radiating from his soul, as she responded. “How did it happen? Melinoe scratched me right across the chest. Until I heal properly I’m going to sound like I’m dead or dying,”

Lee nodded. Before jerking back up. “Isn’t that your sister?”

Bianca chuckled. Wincing. “Sure is!”

After he’d gotten his hands washed and come over onto the couch with some rolls of bandages, recently stolen from as many medical stores as possible, Lee began to get to work.

He wasn’t as good as Will but he didn’t spend most of his years in an infirmary for nothing.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Lee began to unfurl the bandages from Bianca’s chest.

He was met with blackened blood, probably infected in some way that couldn't be fixed with regular medicine. Bianca looked down at it blankly. Before she spoke up in a cautious voice. “I… need some advice,”

“What is it?” Lee tried to ignore the wounds, as he knew there was nothing he could do that would make it better other than rewrapping the bandages. So that’s what he began to do.

“My father… was emotionally abusive,” Bianca confessed slowly. “But I told him if he changed I’d forgive him, do you think I should?”

“Did he listen?” Lee asked. “And does he actually want to change?”

“...” Bianca looked to the side. “He… he listened, he even apologised but that's not enough. I mean, he’s a god does he really have the capacity to change?”

“Didn’t you say Persephone changed?”

Bianca nodded. “She did,”

“Look,” Lee took her hand. “I can’t make your choices for you, you have to make them for yourself. If you want to forgive him I’ll be here for you every step of the way, but if you to leave him behind then I’ll stand by you as well,”

She stared at Lee for a very long time before sighing. “I want him to be a part of my family,”

“Then talk to him about that, obviously not now, but when this is over give him a chance, If he hasn’t changed dump him and move along with your life, if he has then live your own peaceful family life in the underworld,”

Bianca wiped some tears in her eyes. Her wounds were all rewrapped by now. “Thank you,”

Lee tried to smile, he really did, but he couldn’t. Bianca noticed immediately. “Hey, are you okay? What happened?”

Lee was going to have to ask her eventually, so the sooner the better. “Michael died,”

“Oh, oh  _ Lee _ ,” Bianca seemed as though she desperately wanted to hug him. “I’m so sorry I-I didn’t, I should’ve done  _ more _ -,”

“You weren’t even there Bianca,” Lee let slow tears fall down his face. “I should’ve told him to get back-but he was getting too reckless and now he’s-,”

“Lee this isn’t your fault,” Bianca continued to clutch his hand. “Nobodies going to blame you, and anyone that does is an asshole,”

He gave out a wet laugh before divulging into full on sobs. Bianca, ever patient, just let him cry as she whispered soothing words into his ear.

0-0-0

Bianca felt like a person who procrastinated on a project and was now working on it on the final day before hand in.

No, she doesn’t want to talk about it.

0-0-0

“You’re leaving?” Lou Ellen asked. “But you just got here!”

After people saw Will crying, it was only a matter of time before his other friends rushed over to be supportive. Both of them understood the pain of losing siblings.

(Oh  _ gods _ , how were they feeling? Cecil’s brother is leading the army while Lou Ellen has lost more siblings to Kronos’s deception than any other. He’s their friend, he should know this.)

“I still need to go,” Nico said. “My father… I have to convince him to join the fight,”

The topics of parents were not a good thing. Lou Ellen herself winced, knowing that her own mother was fighting against her. Nico had a sympathetic look in his eye.

“Sorry,”

“It’s not your fault,” Lou Ellen mumbled.

“I’m still going though,” Nico continued. Will knew that no amount of force was going to be able to convince him otherwise. He had the look on this face of stubborn defiance, and even if Will was good at putting his foot down and convincing people to think otherwise, Will knew he wouldn’t get far in this argument.

“How are you going to get into the underworld then?” Will asked. 

“Shadowtrav-,”

“Nope,” Will interrupted, sitting up again. He was not letting Nico get hurt more than he had to. “No, no underworld stuff for now, how do you get back the  _ regular  _ way,”

Nico glared at Will, Will glared right back. For a few tense minutes he was prepared to leap across the room as he so much as saw a shadow  _ swirl _ .

Then Nico sighed. “I can’t actually use the New York way. It’s the Orpheus entrance, and I certainly can’t sing,”

“I can rap!” Cecil put up a hand.

“No, no you can’t,” Lou Ellen put down his hand. “I can’t sing either, though I can play the guitar,”

“Do you have it on you?”

Lou Ellen shook her head. “Guess it’s up to Will then,”

Will had never actually  _ sung  _ in front of Nico yet. He  _ might _ have done a hymn while healing Bianca, but that didn’t count. He really didn’t want it to sound horrible, which his singing probably would given the fact his voice was sore from all the crying.

Still, all Will did was sigh and stand up, stretching a bit. The smell of all the food the Demeter kids had made hitting him like a truck, though Will tried to ignore it.

Silena was sitting by herself as she ate some cheesecake. Beckendorf was talking to Thalia Grover and Percy, who had just recently entered the room. Leo was with the Demeter cabin, helping to prepare some more food as he was a stellar cook. While Piper had a sort of sad smile on her face, but her eyes sparkled a bit when they looked between Nico and Will.

She winked at Will. Who instantly blushed and looked away. It was good he had a tanner complexion or else his crush would be busted.

“Y-yup,” Will stuttered out. “You can cou-count on me!”

Gods  _ damnit  _ he never stuttered! What the fuck!

Nico gave him a smile and then a small sweet laugh that he obviously tried to hide, and suddenly his brain had turned to jelly.

HNgHnnghGNNHghNghn.

There it goes, reduced to jelly.

Nico’s smile lit up the sun, while his laugh sounded like when the Iris kids would summon rainbo… rainbows.

_ “Or did his laugh sound like rainbows,” Michael smiled for the first time since he’d been told they didn’t have the chariot anymore. _

Fuck.

He felt like crying again.

Will coughed a bit. Before straightening up. “Lead the way,”

“So this is the entrance to the underworld?” Lou Ellen said with a raised eyebrow. 

“The one Wills brother from a long, long,  _ long, long,  _ time ago made?” Cecil listed.

Nico nodded. Honestly, it didn’t look anything special, but then again, this was just a recreation of it, the real thing was probably more impressive.

Will really didn’t want to see Nico go. Especially to a place he couldn’t go with him.

This was a war though.

“Are you really sure you want to do this?” Will asked softly. He reached out his hand and touched Nico’s shoulder. For the first time ever, Nico didn’t flinch at the touch. It felt like an achievement.

Nico stayed silent. Staring at the ground. “I have to do this,”

“Nico-,”

“Right now it doesn’t matter what I want, because if I start chasing it we’ll all be dead. I know this, Bianca knows this, Percy knows this. We all have to do things we don’t want to do Will,” Nico’s voice was hard. As if Will didn’t already know that. “So I have to go back down there,”

Fuck, Will didn’t like this at all. At all. Still he sucked it up and nodded.

Then he started to sing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K, so I might be on the verge of doing a MASSIVE rewrite of the third book, because I'm going to be honest. It sucked. The first book is fine and the second does it's job well enough. The third on the other hand. mmm. That shit needs to be blown out of the sky honey. Shoot it down. So, don't expect an update to be toooo soon. ;)  
> Anyway, love you all, have a nice day (or night) and have a happy holidays! (I just started mine today!)


	12. Percy Finds Out About The Flashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper fights a flying pig

Kronos stood. Watching.

His army was ready, his forces in his command. There were pesky inconveniences, such as Ethan’s short memory and Luke's inability to realise he had lost. Those were manageable, in his control.

In his sight and directly in his forces.

Then there were the _other_ kind of inconveniences. Like Jackson and Chase. Those two were delaying the inevitable but they were still delaying it. While annoying, he could quickly crush them once he took Manhattan.

Once he took Olympus.

He had never expected a third ground. He hadn’t expected the unpredictability of Bianca di Angelo. A teenager that had survived a god, something that only Perseus could also attest to. He hadn’t expected the amount of _frustration_ and _annoyance_ she would bring him.

No matter.

He could still crush her. Her weaknesses were clear. Touch her brother, or her sister, and she would lose all sense of rationality. Just as Jackson did on the bridge.

Then there came a fourth.

Silena Beauregard. 

He thought her nuisances were easy to deal with. After all she was wrapped under his thumb, a spy nobody would suspect because she had a good heart. Of course, that heart seemed to be it’s weakness.

She wasn’t giving enough information.

Silena had been _lacking_. And most disappointing, she’d given wrong information that had costed troops.

Whether it had been a small snuff of rebellion, or a long and fornicated plan mattered little to Kronos. All that mattered was the fact she had disobeyed his will.

And for that, consequences must be upheld.

“Call Ethan back inside,” Kronos smiled wickedly. Already forming a plan. “I have… a rather _special_ job for him,”

0-0-0

Percy Jackson was a lot of things, forgiving, reckless, loyal to a fault. At the moment though he was a mixture between very confused and very pissed.

See, he should probably give an explanation.

He’d just finished talking to Thalia about the aftermath of the Prometheus meeting, and also about the dream he’d had last night. A full detail showing of what _exactly_ happened to May Castellan.

It was almost like Morpheaus was secretly on the demigods side, as his dreams had been giving him an influx of information. From the first dreams, which showed Nico going back to the underworld and telling the underworld family what happened (Melinoe is a bitch), to Rachel convincing her father to let her come to New York on a helicopter, and finally, the Hermes and May Castellan dream.

So after talking to Thalia, and having her lock away the pandora's box, Percy immediately passed out.

He saw a few things. How his fathers palace was doing, what was happening in the enemy army, but the third dream was the one that got him, it was the one that made him wake up in a cold sweat to go find Bianca.

The dream started with Percy blinking, to find Bianca leaning over the river Lethe.

It wasn’t _normal_ Bianca, her clothes were her hunter of Artemis ones she’d joined so long ago. Her hair was tied back in a braid, and the familiar tiara the hunters wore laid on her head. Percy didn’t like it for one second, but it was a reminder that this was a flashback. This had changed.

But-why would she be by the river Lethe?

Percy didn’t have time to question things as Bianca’s head turned to a door.

They looked like the elevator on Olympus, except more golden and… a blue that Percy couldn’t even _begin_ to describe. They weren’t closing but Bianca only kept staring.

Percy watched, and jerked back a bit in surprise, as Bianca rushed forward. Running as fast as she could towards the doors as if they could disappear at any moment.

As she came up to the door, Bianca dived through it, Percy following through at a much slower pace. 

Then the scene changed. 

It was an empty, old house. The only furniture in it was a large circular table, four chairs surrounding it, three of which had people, no wait, _gods_ , inhabiting it. All of them had tea in their hands and were all staring at Bianca with a beady and judging eye. One of them, the middle one, beckoned her forward.

Bianca walked. Percy floated behind her. Wondering whether he was witnessing the first meeting between Bianca and the Fates. When she got revived from the dead.

A teacup floated in front of her, defying gravity as it waited for Bianca to pick it up. She did.

“Um…” Bianca stated dumbly. “So, if you don't mind me asking, who are you? I have a feeling you already know who I am,”

The three woman, old and wrinkly, listed off there names. Until the last one, Atropos, spoke again. 

“And why did we even need to talk to the brat anyway, we could've just let Apollo do it,”

“He does not need to be informed on the situation," Lachesis dismissed the idea. Giving a slight wave of the hand, she was obviously the leader by the way she carried herself. She took another sip of her tea. “And we needed to speak to her directly to make sure she understands everything,”

Bianca stayed silent. 

“So, you must be wondering why you are here, I should hope?” Clotho asked. To which Bianca nodded. “Well a little while back, on your first quest I presume, we issued a prophecy that stated that you would be lost in the land without rain. Now, due to this prophecy, you died,”

Bianca and Percy both simultaneously winced. But Bianca looked down a bit at the mention of her death. Percy tried to pat her back, only to have his hand phase through her.

“It turns out,” Lachesis looked irritated. Luckily not at Bianca herself. “That _someone_ miscalculated when your string was meant to be cut,”

Excuse me? Bianca’s death was a _mistake_ . Percy was fuming as he turned to Atropos, who was grumbling under her breath. Did they know how much _trauma_ Bianca remained from dying? Those three probably didn’t even care anyway.

So Percy silently stewed.

“So… wait, I wasn’t mean to die?”

“It flew the whole timeline into a fluke, your death I mean,” Clotho took a sip of tea.

Wait. Wait. Back up.

 _Timeline_.

What the fuck did that-?

“For a while, we thought we could continue like this, that we could still be able to work with this, but later on we found out that it wouldn't work. You _need_ to stay alive, so now we are here to fix that,”

Excuse me. Wait. Wait you can’t just-.

“There will be some changes to the timeline,” Lachesis stated. “Ones we had originally planned and others that are newer,”

Does this mean hes done this-. Did he-? What is going _on_?

“I still vote we erase the brats' memories,” Atropos mumbled. Two sharp clinks made the woman stop, as two Teacups found there way to there little bowl. Bianca sank lower into her chair.

Percy was still reeling. Timeline? Wait, was this like a back to the future movie? What was going-?

“You don't get to vote on this, not after you _insisted_ that it was fine for it to get this bad,” Lachesis hissed harshly. Clotho seemed to nod in agreement. 

“Anyway, we are going to send you back to when you had died, you will live this time,” Clotho insisted. “But of course the prophecy will still have to come into effect, so do not expect yourself to be able to reunite with your companions until later,”

Was that why Percy was getting those visions? Was he really fighting a war for a _second time_?

“Of course, there will be a small price to pay for this,” Atropos seemed excited by this prospect. “No more immortality, and certainly no more being a hunter of Artemis,”

Why did this war keep getting more and more complicated?

“What?! Why?!”

“You'll find out in due time, but use your lack of status as an excuse of why you are still alive,” Atropos took a small sip of tea before setting it down and smiling wickedly. “Also you cannot tell anyone you know the future. Nor can you give away things that obviously show you are,”

The _future_ . Bianca knew. This _entire fucking time_.

How many deaths could’ve been prevented. It was Percy’s fault that Michael was dead but Bianca could have stopped that. She _could’ve_ -.

“If we see you again we hope it'll be after all this is over,” Clotho smiled one last time before slowly everything began to fade.

Percy woke up to being alone.

He probably should have been getting ready to fight. He had time for some confrontation though, just enough to speak his mind and get some gods damn _answers_.

He strode down the hall, anyone who saw him must have known that he was pissed because they moved out of the way with a jump every time. Percy kept scanning, like a hunter looking for his prey.

Except she wasn’t in her room.

That _bitch-_.

He passed Leo at one point who, after jumping about six meters back, pointed Percy in the right direction. She was up and about, apparently even with a fucking wound like the one described she couldn’t stay in bed.

Percy ran around some more before he finally found her drinking hot chocolate with Piper.

His fury increased.

Bianca looked over to the side, saw him and smiled.

“Ey yo Percival!” Bianca called over as she patted the spot next to him. Percy, doing his best to hide his absolutely furious face, sat beside her on the little waiting room table. “Do you want to know what's happened to me? My esteemed rival banned me from drinking coffee because it wasn’t ‘good for my health,’ I swear, this is a personal attack. And Piper’s agreeing with him!”

“Angel face,” Piper had a look of patience but she was smiling. Meaning that all of this overdramaticness was just to make her girlfriend smile. Which. Usually Percy would have smiled at too, but not right now. “C’mon, it’s only a little while-,”

“Actually, Piper, can I steal Bianca for a bit. I need to talk to her in private,” Percy cut in.

Piper rolled her eyes fondly. “I don’t own my girlfriend, Percy. She can go wherever she wants to go, but sure. You got my permission,”

Bianca put on her serious face. Obviously expecting like, a fucking battle plan to be revealed to her because she knew everything from the ghosts.

_Was that what you called the future, Bianca? Ghosts! GHOSTS!_

“Sure, sure,” Bianca nodded. “We’ve got maybe forty to forty-five minutes before battle so let's talk,”

She stood up before stumbling a bit, tripping over her feet and taking in a sharp breath. Percy luckily caught her. So she wasn’t fine. 

“I’m good,” Bianca waved off. “I’ll live, don’t worry,”

Percy let Bianca lean on him as he walked her to the nearest room. A small brooms closet where no one would overhear. A few of the campers gave them weird stares as they entered, but they ignored it.

Bianca turned on the light. “What's the problem-?”

“This has already happened before,” Percy stated. Bianca flinched at the absolutely pissed tone he had in his voice. “Hasn’t it? Or have you already passed the point where you reset the timeline?”

“Percy?” Bianca’s voice was careful. “Are you okay?”

“Oh don’t _lie_ ,” Percy spat out. “I just found out that you reset a timeline, I don’t need you lying to me,”

“You...Percy!” Bianca calmed down her voice. Taking out a long breath. “You’re going to have to be more specific, what did you see?”

Percy explained exactly what he saw, only to see Bianca’s face begin to slowly drain of colour. Leaving a pale anxious mess that looked ready to vomit from both anxiety and pain. Percy felt somewhat bad, but he needed answers.

“I’m…” Bianca fumbled. “I’m guessing you want an explanation?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I need one,”

Bianca looked like she was going to cry, and that was the moment Percy’s anger just… dissipated. “Hey… hey it’s okay,”

She took in a few more shaky breathes before letting them out. Obviously trying to keep her emotions under control.

“You’re right, I’m from another timeline,” Bianca started to say slowly. “I… was sent back around two months after the war ended,”

“Seriously?!” Percy exclaimed. As the fact that Bianca knew who one the war and that it actually ended was fantastic news. “Who-,”

“Let me finish talking,” Bianca interrupted. Percy let her. “I don’t know exactly, when I got sent back, underworld time and all, but I do know that… well you won,”

Percy felt a huge amount of relief fill himself. Only for more questions to arise. “But… if we won why are you here now?”

“Does it _seem_ like I know?” Bianca exclaimed, before sighing. “I’ve stopped some deaths, but that can’t be the only reason I’ve been sent back,”

“Beckendorf,” Percy remembered. “You stopped Beckendorf from dying, that’s why you were so insistant to have Leo on the boat quest,”

“Mhm,” Bianca nodded. “The Fates didn’t let me tell anyone anything so it’s been hard trying to prevent deaths without outright saying ‘you’re going to die if you do that!’,”

No wonder Bianca tried desperately to keep things under control, no wonder she tried so hard to know what everyone was thinking. She’d put the whole world on her shoulder because she knew what could happen if she didn’t.

“How do we win?” Percy asked next. If they could follow that exactly then… then they could win again.

“I…” Bianca seemed scared to answer. “I… don’t exactly know,”

“You don’t _know_?!”

“I wasn’t _there_ when it happened,” Bianca exclaimed. “I’d been with Nico, okay, and he hadn’t been there when the war had ended. All I know is that it happened up in Olympus’s throne room… and that people died…but the ending has to say the same, that much is clear,”

Percy shocked as if Thalia had electrocuted, knowing that Bianca was purposely avoiding something and thinking the worst. Anxiety crawled up his skin as he asked. “Wait, am I going to die?”

“No,” Bianca answered instantly, and it was like a release against his heart. Every worry was unfurling. “You didn’t last time at least,”

“What if I have to this time though?” Percy said.

“You won’t,” Bianca was firm and insistent, as if the possibility wasn’t even an option. “I don’t even think Atropos would let it happen, you’re her favourite,”

“Excuse me?”

“Nevermind,” Bianca finished. “You know you can’t tell anyone,”

Percy didn’t like it. But he didn’t really think he’d have it in him to tell anyone anyway.

“Sure-that’s fine,” Percy opened the door and helped Bianca out. “I should probably go check on Annabeth anyway,”

Bianca had a smile on her face, one that seemed to show she knew something, but wasn’t going to show it. “I’m sure you do,”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Bianca walked away, going back to her girlfriend. “I’ll see you later, Percival,”

“WILL YOU STOP CALLING ME THAT!”

0-0-0

Reyna hadn’t talked to Cal since the confession day and it was starting to get on her nerves.

Neither of them were actively avoiding the other. Reyna didn’t know why Cal hadn’t come to her yet, but she certainly knew why she was avoiding Cal. As she felt like all of Cal’s hard work and lessons on self-confidence would… damage their friendship now that they hadn’t worked.

But with every action came an equal and opposite reaction, as while the two girls had been avoiding each other, Jason and Reyna had been talking more, and understanding how they had gone wrong.

Like how Jason had ignored her signals, not turning them down or encouraging, but letting her feelings grow. While Reyna had begun to wonder while spending time with him, how much was her affections real? And how much was based on expectations?

She didn’t have answers, and she certainly didn’t have the time to think about them, as she was in the middle of a battle meeting with the whole leaders of the army.

Bethany was holding center stage. Calm, confident, in control and with everyone's eyes on her. She was what Reyna was inspired to be like.

Bethany definitely hadn’t tied her self worth to the expectations of other people.

(It was something she was working on).

Just before Reyna could spiral into another thought tunnel about her self worth, a small piece of paper floated into her hand.

Reyna looked from left to right to see if either person had dropped it in her hand. Both had turned up negative. Then she had scanned around the room to see Cal looking straight at her from a little while away.

Her eyes said read it.

So Reyna did.

_I’m sorry for avoiding you. Can we still be friends?_

Underneath that had a box for yes and a box for no. Reyna rolled her eyes, grabbed a small pen from the table and ticked yes. Before tapping on the desk twice and holding her hand out underneath the table.

The paper floated out of her hands.

A few seconds later, Reyna saw Cal look down and smile sweetly. Before looking at Reyna and giving her the same smile directly

Then she felt the paper in her hand again, this time with a new message.

_I’m sorry if you felt like you had to act girly. It’s fine to be who you are._

Was that why Cal had been avoiding her?

Well, that at least answered some questions.

Reyna began to write back.

_It’s fine. I liked doing that stuff. Just never thought I was allowed to do it before._

She sent it back. Cal had a mad expression as she scribbled down an answer. Sending back the page.

_Whoever said that is an idiot >:( and has obviously never seen you in a dress. _

Reyna felt her cheeks heat up, it felt nice knowing that at least someone found her attractive.

_Thanks._

Reyna didn’t know what else to add, so she just sent it back. Waiting for her palm to be filled in case Cal wanted to say more, which apparently she did.

_No problem. Can we go to starbucks later and chat? Just you and me? 1:30?_

_Is that a date?_

_It can be if you want it to be ;)_

Reyna snorted. They were running out of room on the paper by now.

_You still want coffee? You had seven cups this morning._

_That wasn’t a no._

_Sure, I’d love to-._

Reyna was stopped halfway through writing when seeing a shadow looming over her. She noticed a few things in that moment, everything was quiet, Bethany wasn’t at the front of the room and everyone was staring at her. Even Cal, who looked like she was wincing.

“Are we interrupting something?” Bethany asked. Raising an eyebrow. The rest of the table snickered at their antics.

“No Praetor,” Reyna and Cal mumbled.

“Good. Keep your flirting until after the meeting then,” Bethany turned back to the chalkboard that showed all their positions in battle, just in time to not be facing Cal and Reyna’s blushing stutters and flusters.

The rest of the table was split in half, people like Octavian and some of the more older fashioned ghosts seemed to be appalled at the fact Bethany was just fine with insinuating that two of the best Romans were gay. While others like Jason and Ryan, were just fine with what she was implying, but did find it hilarious seeing the two girls blushing.

It took a long time to get that meeting back in order. 

(Cal had mouthed, are we still on for coffee? Right before the meetings end.

Reyna had smiled and nodded.)

0-0-0

Annabeth and Percy had come together to the meeting place. As it was now time to fight.

Thalia and the head counselors were waiting for them at the Reservoir. The lights of the city were blinking on at twilight. Streetlamps glowed around the shore of the lake, making the water and trees look even spookier.

Leo, who had been manning the shield while Annabeth was out of commission, looked up from his conversation with Bianca and scamperd over to Annabeth.

"I just looked in the shield. There's an army-," 

"Heading south into Central Park," Percy answered for him. As he had already had a dream about what was going on. “We know,”

Leo nodded. Giving one last glance to Annabeth before giving back the shield and running back to Beckendorf.

Thalia, Grover and Bianca came forward. Some part of Annabeth wondered why Piper wasn’t there too, only to see the girl was comforting a scared Lacy.

Annabeth winced, reminded again that they were just children.

"They're coming," Thalia confirmed, pointing north with a silver arrow. "Pipers knife just showed they've crossed the Harlem River. There was no way to hold them back. The army . . ." She shrugged. "It's huge."

"We'll hold them at the park," Percy said. "Grover, you ready?"

He nodded. "As ready as we'll ever be. If my nature spirits can stop them anywhere, this is the place." 

"Yes, we will!" said another voice. A very old, fat satyr pushed through the crowd, stumbling over his own spear. He was dressed in wood-bark armor that only covered half of his belly. 

"Leneus?" Bianca said. 

"Don't act so surprised," he huffed. "I am a leader of the Council, and you did tell me to find Grover. Well, I found him, and I'm not going to let a mere outcast lead the satyrs without my help!" 

Behind Leneus's back, Grover made gagging motions, but the old satyr grinned like he was the savior of the day. "Never fear! We'll show those Titans!"

Percy seemed to be barely managing to keep a straight face. "Um . . . yeah. Well, Grover, you won't be alone. Annabeth and the Athena cabin will make their stand here. And me, and Bianca, and . . . Thalia?" 

She patted Percy on the shoulder. "Say no more. The Hunters are ready." 

Percy looked at the other counselors. "That leaves the rest of you with a job just as important. You have to guard the other entrances to Manhattan. You know how tricky Kronos is. He'll hope to distract us with this big army and sneak another force in somewhere else. It's up to you to make sure that doesn't happen. Has each cabin chosen a bridge or tunnel?" 

The counselors nodded grimly. 

"Then let's do it," Percy said. "Good hunting, everybody!"

Everybody dispersed, except for two people.

Annabeth already knew who before she had to speak.

“Fine,” Annabeth conceded. “You can stay,”

Leo didn’t beam, but it did seem like a weight was lifted off of his shoulder. While Piper looked at Annabeth thankfully before moving to Bianca’s side.

They had both been deeply affected by the near death of Bianca. It was no wonder that they had stayed with her. She was pretty sure they wouldn’t have been able to fight without knowing she was safe. Or at least near somewhere where they could protect her.

Bianca rolled her eyes. “I don’t need a bodyguard,”

“Yeah, you do,” Leo and Piper both said at the same time.

Annabeth chuckled. Thankful that Percy and Grover weren’t treating her like that, but were still worried about her.

She stopped worrying, and started to focus on surviving, when she heard the army.

Not saw. Heard.

The amount of noise was just insane. It sounded like battle cries and death.

At the north end of the reservoir, the enemy vanguard broke through the woods—a warrior in golden armor leading a battalion of Laistrygonian giants with huge bronze axes. Hundreds of other monsters poured out behind them. 

"Positions!" Annabeth yelled. 

Her cabinmates scrambled. The idea was to make the enemy army break around the reservoir. To get to them, they'd have to follow the trails, which meant they'd be marching in narrow columns on either side of the water. 

At first, the plan seemed to work. The enemy divided and streamed toward them along the shore. When they were halfway across, the defenses kicked in. The jogging trail erupted in Greek fire, incinerating many of the monsters instantly. Others flailed around, engulfed in green flames. Athena campers threw grappling hooks around the largest giants and pulled them to the ground.

In the woods on the right, the Hunters sent a volley of silver arrows into the enemy line, destroying twenty or thirty dracaenae, but more marched behind them. 

A bolt of lightning crackled out of the sky and fried a Laistrygonian giant to ashes.

Thalia was helping in more ways than one it seemed

Grover raised his pipes and played a quick tune. A roar went up from the woods on both sides as every tree, rock, and bush seemed to sprout a spirit. Dryads and satyrs raised their clubs and charged. The trees wrapped around the monsters, strangling them. Grass grew around the feet of the enemy archers. Stones flew up and hit dracaenae in the faces.

Percy!" Annabeth tugged at his sleeve and pointed at the reservoir. The Titan in the gold armor wasn't waiting for his forces to advance around the sides. He was charging toward the demigods, walking straight over the top of the lake.

A Greek firebomb exploded right on top of him, but he raised his palm and sucked the flames out of the air. 

"Hyperion," Annabeth said in awe. "The lord of light. Titan of the east." 

"Bad?" Percy guessed. 

"Next to Atlas, he's the greatest Titan warrior. In the old days, four Titans controlled the four corners of the world. Hyperion was the east—the most powerful. He was the father of Helios, the first sun god." 

"I'll keep him busy," Percy promised. 

"Percy, even you can't—" 

"Just keep our forces together."

Percy advanced toward Hyperion, running over the top of the water.

“He’s fucking fish Jesus,” Leo whispered in awe.

It was the only bit of comedy in the shitty situation.

0-0-0

Makaria might be the favourite grandchild, but that did not mean she liked her Grandmother.

She was just a wonderful actor from all her time in retail. (A story for another time, but to cut it short, Hades had harsh parental punishments when Persephone wasn’t home).

After all there was a reason Demeter wasn’t invited to the underworld family reunion parties. With her constant complaining, and nagging, and even just criticising that she thought was welcome and even _allowed_ just because she was older.

So when Nico had asked her for permission to go into Elysium to see Michael Yew (the newest ghost she’d allowed into her domain) she’d decided to guide him. Just to get an excuse to get away from Demeter’s absolutely bitchy attitude.

As they walked through Asphodel, shades and ghosts parting out of the way in the presence of her, Makaria began to ask questions.

“You never did tell us how Bianca got her injuries?”

He hadn’t explained the situation well. To be fair though he’d been coddled by Persephone, as her mother had noticed how distressed Nico had been. Looking at the verge of panicking and shadow travelling back to where his sister was.

“You won’t like the answer,” Nico had responded, looking down.

“I would like to decide that for myself, thank you,”

Nico kept walking in silence for a few seconds, before he spoke up. “Melinoe. She scratched her across the chest,”

Oh.

Oh dear.

Makaria stayed silent. Mulling over how to deal with the situation.

See, unlike Zagreus, Makaria actually had a good relationship with her sister

While the war might have… strained it a bit to say the least, the two of them still got along. With Melinoe even promising safety for her sister if Kronos won. So she had the most instincts as to why Melinoe did what she did.

If… if Makaria had to guess. The reason why Melinoe had actually joined the combat was that she’s found Bianca’s changing in Persephone's attitude… a bad choice.

Melinoe had never liked Hades children. Not once, not ever. But she could tolerate them knowing that no matter how much Hades might love his short lived mortal children more than his goddess daughter, at least she could fall back onto her mother for comfort.

And… with Bianca’s interference, that safety net wasn’t there.

Melinoe felt like she was less than a mortal.

Which, for a goddess, was a big deal of self loathing.

The two of them would have to talk.

(And if possible, make Melinoe apologise).

“Why are you visiting Michael anyway?” Makaria asked her brother as she reached the gates of Elysium. Scattering ghosts that tried to enter while also opening the gate with a flick of the wrist.

“Will… he’ll want reassurance that it wasn’t his fault,” Nico whispered. “He was crying, I want… I want him to know that his brother doesn’t blame him,”

Makaria raised an eyebrow. While that did seem like a normal thing to do, the fact of the matter was that Nico definitely had no such qualms when Castor died. He may have comforted his brother, but he hadn’t offered to break into Elysium to give his brothers word.

This was special.

“Who is Will, then?”

“Will Solace,” Nico answered. A slight blush on his cheeks, barely visible. “One of my friends,”

“Just a friend?”

Nico blushed harder as they walked through the streets of Elysium. She smiled at her brother, which only seemed to make him more embarrassed.

“Invite him to the family gathering, then, I’d love to meet him,”

“What family gathering?”

“For Halloween,” Makaria said. It was something she’d set up a long time ago, and it was also why Halloween was such a spooky time of the year with so many ghosts. She had a whole day with Thanatos, with the rest of her family coming along too. “Plus ones are allowed, you’re free to join us,”

“I…” Nico seemed to consider. “I’ll think about it,”

0-0-0

Piper was just not having a good day.

Beaten, bloody, bruised. And a flying pig dive bombing her, with her barely avoiding every time.

"Don't tell me that thing is from Greek mythology," Piper complained. 

"Afraid so," Annabeth said. "The Clazmonian Sow. It terrorized Greek towns back in the day."

"Let me guess," Percy said. "Hercules beat it." 

"Nope," Annabeth said. "As far as I know, no hero has ever beaten it."

"Perfect," Percy muttered.

Piper began to look at Percy, wondering whether he’d go in to fight that thing. Which was a crazy idea considering he was literally leading an army. He couldn’t leave whenever some random monster called.

That seemed to be the idea turning in his head.

"That pig has to go." Percy grabbed a grappling hook from one of Annabeth's siblings. "I'll take care of it. You guys hold the rest of the enemy. Push them back!" 

“Percy you need to stay with the army!” Piper yelled. “I can take it, let me kill it!”

Her low self confidence screamed at her to just let Percy do it. That all she’d do was get herself killed. But Percy needed to be here, he needed to be with the forces. The lines were getting thinner and thinner and Percy was the only hope to not losing this.

“But-,”

“You trust me right?” Piper asked. She might not have hurricane or raise the dead level powers, and she might not have any fancy schmancy skin, but that thing seemed tauntable.

“Of course,”

“Then let me kill it!”

“No one else has ever killed it before!”

“Percy!” Piper yelled. “I’ve got this!”

Percy hesitated one more time, before handing her the grappling hook. “Go get that pig,”

Before she took off, Piper looked to her girlfriend, expecting worry and hesitancy.

Only to instead see her momentarily waver, before straightening up and nodding.

Before Piper could change her mind, she swung the grappling hook like a lasso. When the sow came down for its next pass, she threw with all of her strength. The hook wrapped around the base of the pig's wing. It squealed in rage and veered off, yanking the rope and her into the sky.

Then she realised how _terrible of an idea this was_.

She could only _barely_ stay on (she was never good at climbing the rope in gym class), while she took most of her attention into avoiding streetlamps and using her charm speak to make sure she didn’t slam into a wall.

Now, if she yelled for it to stop, that would be a stupid idea. As she’d be flung into the air so high she’d probably die with a splat once she came back down.

She only said probably because she was a demigod.

Demigods survived the impossible all the time, right?

But still, better not to risk it.

“Fucking shit-SLOW DOWN,” Piper yelled with all her might. Adding as much charmspeak as she could.

Down from Mach 20 to Mach 19.

Charming.

They zigzagged along several blocks and continued south on Park Avenue.

She gave instructions when she could, but Piper was pretty sure her lungs were dying from the sheer amount of force she was putting into them.

Grand Central lay dead ahead. Above the main entrance stood the giant statue of Hermes, which Piper guessed hadn't been activated because it was so high up. She was flying right toward him at the speed of demigod-smashing.

Which, given that she didn’t have a plan, meant she panicked.

“ _Goupgoupgoupgoupgoup_ ,” Piper kept chanting in charmspeak. Watching as the pig slowly did as was told. Not fast enough though.

“Goupgoup-fucking-STOP,”

And the pig did, immediately.

Sending Piper flying straight up into the air. Almost high enough that she felt as if she’d land on Olympus.

Except she didn’t.

Instead she stopped, for a brief second, before beginning to go hurtling back down onto the ground.

Piper screamed, the only natural response when someone is about to die as a splat on the road. She was getting closer and closer to the ground and was not looking too hot.

Wait.

Where was the pig?

If she could charmspeak it-.

“Ey porky! I bet you couldn’t even hit me while I was right in front of you!” Piper taunted, twisting and turning in the air while hoping that she could catch onto the only creature currently flying. She kept on trying to spot it, while also avoiding looking at the ground below her.

“REEEEEET,”

Then she felt her ribs break.

Several swears and curses left her mouth as she clung onto the face of the sow for dear life. It’s angry eyes staring at her with full hatred. Piper suddenly remembered a lesson inside class where she’d learnt that pigs were omnivorous, and the reason they had their tails curled was because at the smell of blood they’d eat other pigs.

She was very bloody.

That pig looked hungry.

Aw shit.

Before the pig could even open its mouth, Piper took out her knife (how did she _still_ have it?) and slashed at the snout, letting golden dust pour out. The sow squealed in pain, shaking it’s head and trying to get Piper off.

Piper only held on tighter and slashed out the eyes. Before (somehow) getting onto the back of the beast, and using its ears to make it nose-dive down to the cold hard pavement below.

Probably not the best plan.

The Pig kept squealing and rolling, trying to get Piper off. It was like a rodeo, even though she’d never experienced one. Now she could make ‘this isn’t my first rodeo,’ jokes if she survived.

If.

“Will you stop struggling!” Piper yelled, frustrated, into the things ear. Making the pig stop just for a few seconds, which was enough time for it to crack the concrete with one final squeal. Dissolving into dust and letting Piper roll onto the side of the road.

Reminding her of the broken ribs and blood loss.

(That sweet, sweet blood loss).

“Ugh,” Piper was pretty sure she also had a concussion. “Wow,”

It was a good thing she was already a vegetarian because she was never going to look at bacon the same way again after that.

She lay on the floor for a little longer. Not really feeling up to it to stand up but knowing she would have to eventually.

Then, like a saving grace, Piper saw a small latino running towards her. She tried to smile but it only made her head hurt more.

Leo whistled at her as he leaned over her, he had a weirdly bent wrist and a bloody lip, but like that was going to stop him. “You know, I thought it was bad by the way Bianca was reacting, but I didn’t think it was this bad,”

“Bianca-?”

“Sent me over here,” Leo scratched the side of his head. “Since she’s not allowed to shadow travel,”

Good. Good she was still recovering she shouldn’t be-wait, when did Bianca even listen to doctors orders? You know what, as long as she listened to them, Piper didn’t care.

“Aw, I thought you cared about me,”

“Shut up,”

“No,” Piper laughed a bit. “You shut up,”

“Oh yeah,” Leo helped her up. “You’ve definitely got a concussion,”

Piper laughed again as she leaned on Leo, stumbling a few times before they began to have a steady pace back to the Empire state building.

Piper looked at Leo. Noticing how different he looked since when they first met. No longer was he a scrappy kid on the streets, looking at Piper with distrust and caution and as if she was a monster, but instead he was an annoying little brother for her to tease.

Then she noticed something else.

Piper did a double take. “Since when did you have a sword?”

“Since Annabeth ordered it, and since I forgot that you can find anything in Greek mythology,” Leo shifted her a bit as they kept on walking. “Dang lousy pig,”

Piper laughed a little more, she was obviously going insane as Leo seemed to be unable to laugh back with her.

0-0-0

The past hour had blurred past for Silena.

She didn’t know who she was fighting sometimes, a giant or a hellhound. Who knew? Everything just seemed to seam line together, fading in and out.

Yet she still kept fighting.

As the night wore on and the moon got higher, they were backed up foot by foot until they were only a block from the Empire State Building in any direction. 

Silena saw people she’d been with her entire life. Piper had been beside Silena, her footing off and her stance showing obvious injuries, but her fight was still strong. Lee was there next, out of arrows and instead swinging his bow around like a maniac, then he was off somewhere else, switched with a much more reckless but less maniacked Achil- _Clarisse_.

She wasn’t going to get into the topic too much, given that she was fighting for her life, but she thinks she’d made up her mind.

It had been easier to fight especially when her former self that had been in a war for ten years fought alongside her, saving her from being stabbed multiple times.

She hadn’t seen Charlie yet. But with all the commotion about she hadn’t seen a lot of people that she knew couldn’t be dead, such as Annabeth Chase, so she tried not to think about it much.

All the effort still wasn't enough.

The problem was there were too few of them to hold anything. The entrance to Olympus was twenty feet behind her. A ring of brave demigods, Hunters, and nature spirits guarded the doors. Silena slashed and hacked, destroying everything her path.

She was getting tired though.

(She couldn’t imagine how the less experienced people were feeling)

Behind the enemy troops, a few blocks to the east, a bright light began to shine. Silena thought it was the sunrise. Then she realized Kronos was riding toward us on a golden chariot. A dozen Laistrygonian giants bore torches before him. Two Hyperboreans carried his black-and-purple banners. The Titan lord looked fresh and rested, his powers at full strength. He was taking his time advancing.

Silena didn’t like it. Neither did Patroclus.

Then she heard the hunting horn. It cut through the noise of the battle like a fire alarm. A chorus of horns answered from all around them, echoing off the buildings of Manhattan. 

It wasn’t a hunters horn though, they were all well and accounted for.

The horns got louder. Silena couldn't tell where they were coming from because of the echo, but it sounded like an entire army was approaching.

It wasn’t the enemies that was for sure though, given by the way Kronos was standing, his face contouring into confusion.

Then, to the left, a hundred monsters cried out at once. Kronos's entire northern flank surged forward. Silena thought she was doomed, but they didn't attack. The monsters ran straight past them and crashed into their southern allies.

A new blast of horns shattered the night. The air shimmered. In a blur of movement, an entire cavalry appeared as if dropping out of light speed.

"Yeah, baby!" a voice wailed. "PARTY!" 

A shower of arrows arced over Silena and slammed into the enemy, vaporizing hundreds of demons. But these weren't regular arrows. They made whizzy sounds as they flew, like WHEEEEEE! Some had pinwheels attached to them. Others had boxing gloves rather than points.

Silena wondered whether she was on drugs by how ridiculous it was.

"Centaurs!" Annabeth yelled. 

The Party Pony army exploded into the midst in a riot of colors: tie-dyed shirts, rainbow Afro wigs, oversize sunglasses, and war-painted faces. Some had slogans scrawled across their flanks like HORSEZ PWN or KRONOS SUX. Hundreds of them filled the entire block.

"Percy!" Chiron shouted across the sea of wild centaurs. He was dressed in armor from the waist up, his bow in his hand, and he was grinning in satisfaction. "Sorry we're late!" 

"DUDE!" Another centaur yelled. "Talk later. WASTE MONSTERS NOW!"

He locked and loaded a double-barrel paint gun and blasted an enemy hellhound bright pink. The paint must've been mixed with Celestial bronze dust or something, because as soon as it splattered the hellhound, the monster yelped and dissolved into a pink-and-black puddle. 

PARTY PONIES.'" a centaur yelled. "SOUTH FLORIDA!" 

Somewhere across the battlefield, a twangy voice yelled back, "HEART OF TEXAS CHAPTER!"

"HAWAII OWNS YOUR FACES!" a third one shouted. 

It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. The entire Titan army turned and fled, pushed back by a flood of paintballs, arrows, swords, and NERF baseball bats. The centaurs trampled everything in their path. 

"Stop running, you fools!" Kronos yelled. "Stand and ACKK!"

That last part was because a panicked Hyperborean giant stumbled backward and sat on top of him. The lord of time disappeared under a giant blue butt.

She heard Lee’s rambunctious laughter, and she couldn’t help but laugh along with him at the sight.

The demigods pushed them for several blocks until Chiron yelled, "HOLD! On your promise, HOLD!"

It wasn't easy, but eventually the order got relayed up and down the ranks of centaurs, and they started to pull back, letting the enemy flee.

"Chiron's smart," Annabeth said, wiping the sweat off her face. "If we pursue, we'll get too spread out. We need to regroup." 

“But the enemy-,"

"They're not defeated," she agreed. "But the dawn is coming. At least we've bought some time."

Silena watched as the last of the telkhines scuttled toward the East River. Then reluctantly she turned and headed back toward the Empire State Building.

Percy ran straight past her, avoiding everyone and going for Bianca, practically dragging her away from Piper. Which was pretty mean but Silena wasn’t going to question it.

The first person Silena found was Lee. He was happily talking to Malcom, about what Silena didn’t know. But she needed to talk to Lee first, before Charlie.

“Lee,” Silena asked. Her friend turning attention away from the conversation to look at her. “Can we talk?”

“One second,” Lee turned back to Malcom. “8 o’clock Thursday? Same place?”

“Sure,” Malcolm smiled. “See you there, if we live,”

Malcolm walked away as Lee beamed, literal sunshine radiating from his smile. Silena narrowed her eyes at him.

Lee noticed. “Oh get you’re mind out of the gutter, we’re doing a Star Wars rerun,”

Ah. So nerd stuff.

“I didn’t know you were into that?”

“Will made the entire cabin watch it for his birthday,” Lee shrugged. “I just like the swords,”

“They’re called lightsabers,”

“Potato potato,” Lee dismissed. “So what did you want to talk about?”

“I’m breaking up with Charlie,”

Lee froze. Blinking before slowly the information seemed to process. “I-are you serious?”

“I’m not happy,” Silena admitted. “Charlie is nice, and I love him a lot but I’m not happy, and I don’t want to be stuck in a relationship were I’m not happy,”

“Are you going to be with Clarisse?”

“I… haven’t really planned that far yet, but probably?”

Lee smiled. “Then what are you waiting for! Go!”

“I just wanted to thank-,”

“You can do that later,” Lee dismissed. Pushing her into the crowd of demigods. “Find Beckendorf and get you’re lesbian self together!”

Silena chuckled as she waved off Lee and began to search, shifting through the crowd and looking around. Expecting to find him almost instantly, as he was a rather big person.

Except he wasn’t there.

She asked his cabinmates, apparently the last time she’d seen him had been battling a demigod with one eye. Then they’d lost track of him.

Was… was he dead?

No. He couldn’t be.

He just couldn’t.

Silena’s pace began to quicken, and she searched around the crowd. “Has anyone seen Charlie!”

The cabinmates began to sombre, from both the Aphrodite and Hephaestus cabin. People began to look away from her and shake her head sadly. No one had seen him, not even when they’d been pushed back.

It was like he’d just vanished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a day after my birthday! I wanted to get the chapter out on my birthday, but didn't have enough time :(  
> Anyway. So i'm still working on the rewrite for last book, It's going to be shorter, a lot shorter, seeing as I mostly used it to put people where I wanted them to be. (Calypso and Hazel in camp Jupiter). But I still want it to be good, so just a heads up about that.  
> Also had Piper fight the pig because I thought it was weird how most of the seven have no prior experience. Like most of camp half blood has survived a war and like... Frank Piper and Leo haven't really gotten any qualifications (Hazels a big three kid, she's exempt), and while I can't fix Frank, I can sure as hell fix the others.


	13. What even are the Gods?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bianca's effects of existing travel far and wide.

Bianca was so tired of being dragged away from her girlfriend.

Just, so abundantly tired.

Percy still dragged her into the side and began asking her questions in rapid fire. Like, was this meant to happen, and what should he do next, and just a mass amount of things she couldn’t register since she was so tired.

“Percy,” Bianca tubbed the crook of her nose. “Percy just stop,”

He did, seeing how Bianca couldn’t even answer and questions if she couldn’t hear them.

“Percy, I wasn’t there in the battle, I don’t know any of the specifics,” She knew she was going to get a headache soon. The amount of stress she’d been under was insane.

“Right, you were with Nico… wait if you were with Nico the first time, why aren’t you with him now?” 

Bianca narrowed her eyes, trying to see if Percy was shitting her.

He wasn’t.

“Because I’m not dead this time,” Bianca responded. Making Percy blink as a response. “Did you seriously think I was alive? I died in the Talos robot, the reason I was with Nico was because I was dead and didn’t have anywhere else to be,”

Percy just froze, taking what she said, slowly making his face go into horror. “I… I didn’t know,”

“That’s fine, I’d be surprised if you did anyway,”

“How…” Percy paused, mulling over his words probably. “How much do you know?”

“Not much. But being dead does have its perks in some ways,” Bianca knew who died, mostly because she’d seen them walk into Elysium. Ethan had come in, surprised that he was being honoured, but taking it with grace.

Bianca had been there though when she’d seen Silena beat the absolute shit out of Luke's ghost. Zagreus hadn’t actually allowed Luke to go into rebirth until he confronted his sins (it was his way of going against the ruling system).

The only information she did have was that it was said that Luke’s death had been a suicide. Mostly because Tisiphone (the fury of things like murder and suicide) was pissed that she didn’t get the whip and torture Luke, and had complained about it quite loudly.

“How can being dead have perks?”

“You know how other people die,” Bianca shrugged. “And you can try to prevent it while you time travel,”

Then the door slammed open.

All conversation between the two of them stopped suddenly, as Silena ran into the room, Lee and surprisingly Annabeth trailing in after her.

Silena didn’t even look at Percy, her eyes zoned in on Bianca as she scrambled towards her. “Is-Charlie-Is he-?”

“Silena,” Lee said as Annabeth put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re going to need to calm down if you want to ask her,”

She took some breathes before speaking. But Silena’s voice still came out shaky and filled with fear for the answer. “Is-is Charlie dead?”

Percy froze and Bianca answered with certainty. “No! I didn’t feel Beckendorf die! Did something happen?!”

“I can’t find him!” Silena cried. “I looked everywhere but I can’t find him!”

Bianca immediately did the only thing she could think of. She started looking for Beckendorfs soul in her radar. Only to find it _wasn’t there_. Wherever Beckendorf was he wasn’t secretly in the bathroom or taking a nap.

He wasn’t there.

0-0-0

Reyna wasn't wearing a helmet.

She wore all the other pieces of armour, but she didn’t wear the helmet. Nobody asked her why, nobody questioned her judgement.

Well, nobody except for her friends.

Hazel was the first to see and asked. Reyna had only responded with ‘because I want to,’. As she hadn’t thought of a proper excuse yet. Hazel, dressed in proper foot soldier armour, only smiled knowingly and didn’t ask again.

Jason was the next. He himself wore the helmet, it wasn’t bad and only mildly uncomfortable, as most pieces of armour were, so he was probably the most confused. Reyna had thought of an excuse by then only saying ‘I won’t need one,’. Which while true, only made him narrow his eyes.

Cal was the last to ask.

“You aren’t wearing the helmet,” Cal crossed her arms. Even though the sorceress wasn’t wearing armour she was proficient in magic, so she probably wouldn’t need any. “What’s gotten into you?”

Reyna looked away. “I just don’t want to,”

Cal raised an eyebrow, she was shorter than Reyna yet she held herself higher. “You don’t want to?”

She nodded.

“Right… and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I braided flowers into your hair?”

Damnit!

Reyna scowled at the floor, which made Cal’s expression soften. Her arms uncrossed as she gently moved her hands up to Reyna’s cheek and stroked. She wasn’t used to this kind of physical affection, so Reyna froze.

Cal’s hands were soft and delicate, but Reyna knew the purpose of them were nothing of the sort. She was powerful and strong, a woman who could crush Reyna any time she wanted to.

Cal stopped stroking (Reyna found she missed the contact already) and moved her hand to the braid, taking out the flower stuck in it. Twirling it in her fingers.

They were so close to each other Reyna could see all the details littering Cal’s face. From her lack of acne and timeless beauty to her stunning eyes that seemed as though they’d experienced years of heartbreak.

She was stunning.

“We’ll make another one once you get back,” Cal promised. Kissing her cheek. Then handing her the helmet. “I promise,”

She walked away, leaving Reyna stunned and in shock. Wanting to know what had just happened.

0-0-0

Lee had left to go heal. Bianca, Percy and Annabeth had left to see Sally and Paul in the car. Leaving Silena alone except… well she soon wasn’t alone.

0-0-0

Iphigenia had been walking through the hallway when she’d heard the screaming.

Instantly, she ran over to the noise, wondering whether a monster had somehow gotten into the building.

She was wrong.

Instead of two monsters she saw Achilles and Patroclus, or to be more accurate, Silena and Clarisse. Silena was yelling and crying while Clarisse was trying to calm her down.

“You’ve got your wish-,” Silena stuttered, she was hysterical at this point. “I-he’s gone! I don’t have to choose! You’re happy aren’t you!”

“No!” Clarisse yelled. Sounding more like Achilles honestly. Iphigenia found it hard to remember they were the same person. “No! I’m not happy, he’s still my friend!”

“You-!”

“Girls!” Iphigenia yelled. Both heads swivelled towards her. Iphigenia took in a breath before letting it out. “I think you two need to spend some time apart,”

Clarisse opened her mouth, then closed it and reluctantly nodded. She was bigger than Iphigenia, but the two held each other in respect. Even if the last time the two had met in much different forms.

Both of those forms were dead, even if they lived on in different ways.

(A child, naively trusting in her father, in a wedding dress prepared for happiness and love. A warrior, watching unknowingly as he signs the child's supposed death.

All of it orchestrated by the selfish controlling Gods) 

Iphigenia straightened up and walked over to Silena, only to watch her eyes glaze over and posture flicker ever so slightly to a warriors one. Of a fighting style that would’ve been lost to time if not for the breeding and relationships of Gods and rebirths of the underworld.

“Patroclus,” Iphigenia had never met the man formally. She had seen him though.

“I didn’t apologise and explain,” Patroclus said hurriedly. “I’m sorry, with everything going on I never told you that I didn’t know-!”

“It’s fine,” Iphigenia would rather not be reminded of her ‘death,’. Or as she liked to put it more accurately, her recruitment. “Let’s just rest the blame on my father and move on,”

Ah. Her father.

She knew he was in Elysium but maybe if she talked to Bianca more she could change that, and maybe bring her mother out of the fields of punishment as well.

Patroclus let out a sigh of relief, before he looked as though he’d been slapped and suddenly Silena was back. As frantic to find the young man Beckendorf as ever.

“Hello Silena,” She didn’t smile. Knowing it would not help the situation. “I believe we need to talk,”

“What I need-,” Silena tried to walk past her. “-Is to find Beckendorf,”

“Silena,” Iphigenia spoke up. “Be reasonable,”

“I need-,”

“What you need is to calm down and _listen_. Beckendorf is a grown man he’ll be fine,”

Silena glared. “You’re a hunter of Artemis, you probably want him to die,”

It was very, very hard to believe that Patroclus and Silena were the same person. Iphigenia only raised an eyebrow. “I don’t hate men, I’m only cautious of the ones I don’t know,”

 _And even the ones I do_. Iphigenia didn’t say but she did think it. “And even then, I’m not an Amazon, I don’t wish them death,”

Silena scowled, obviously about to use charmspeak, so Iphigenia spoke again. “Just… calm down, think. Your sisters need you, you can’t leave at the first sign of trouble,”

Silena still scowled but she did listen to reason, as she sat down on the floor. Iphigenia sat down next to her.

Silena seemed to be taking out her worry and stress on anyone, really if Iphigenia had to guess Clarisse/Achilles hadn’t done or said anything really wrong, it had just been the final straw on the camel's back.

That was her guess anyway.

“It feels weird taking advice from a fourteen year old,” Silena brought up her knees and wrapped her arms around them as she spoke.

“I’m many years older than you, and even older than some gods,”

Silena rolled her eyes. “Patroclus is older than you,”

Iphigenia rested her elbow on her outstretched knee. “That doesn’t matter, you still respect Bianca’s opinion even if she herself is fourteen, age is not the issue. You’re issue is the fact you’re taking advice from a hunter of Artemis,”

Silena ignored what she’d said as she looked to the side. “Did you have a choice?”

“Excuse me?”

“When you became a hunter, did you have a choice?” Silena asked. Which was a widely inappropriate question.

“That is none of your business!” Iphigenia hissed out. “And why do you want to know anyway? How would that help you?”

Silena was silent. Before she spoke in a broken voice. “I-I don’t feel like I’m getting a choice on who I want to be,”

Iphigenia stayed with her mouth shut as she let Silena vent.

“I know you’re a hunter of Artemis, and you probably think I should just say neither, but I feel like I don’t have any choice of who I get to love? Like, Patroclus is the one deciding everything, and as though my attractions for Clarisse were never real. Beckendorf is mine and fully mine and now that he’s gone I feel like-like maybe I never truly had a choice?”

Silena was crying again, her make-up was smeared but it looked like that was the least of her worries. “Did I ever really have a choice, am I just an obstacle in Patroclus’s relationship with Achilles that they’ll ‘get over,’ and become stronger as a result! What am I! We know things happen for a reason, because the fates exist, so is my love for Beckendorf only an obstacle-?!”

Iphigenia cut in, realising that Silena was well and truly having an existential crisis.

“It’s okay,” She rubbed Silena’s arm, letting Silena let everything out and cry. “You’re going to be okay,”

They stayed with Silena softly crying before Iphigenia decided to speak again.

“A… few things,” Iphigena looked up at the cheap light above her and sighed softly. “Are you actually happy with Clarisse?”

“I… I am,” Silena said in a shaky voice. “But I don’t know how much of that is Patroclus,”

“I have lived long enough and seen enough rebirth to understand that if you both agree, you will become the same person,” Iphigenia poked her stomach. “So when you decide to merge, you will both be happy, because you are both the same being,”

Silena whispered out a small oh.

“And as for Beckendorf,” Iphigenia sighed. “If he truly-and I mean truly loves you, then he’ll want the best for you. There is a difference between affection and _love._ If you are happy with Clarisse, he will love you enough to let go and move on,”

Agamemnon, her father, she would never know whether he truly loved her. But what she did know was that he was willing to throw away his daughter. Which, to her, was all the evidence she needed.

“And to answer our question. No I didn’t get a choice,” Iphigenia stated the truth. While she might now love the huntresses. The truth of the gods was if they wanted something, they would do anything to get what they wanted.

And Artemis had wanted Iphigenia.

“I didn’t get a choice. I either had the choice of dying or being an eternal huntress, and well…”

“You didn’t want to die,” Silena was looking at her with shock. “So she didn’t really save you,”

“Just orchestrated my kidnapping,” Iphigenia sighed. “I’m going to be honest with you, there are very few gods that are kind. And while Artemis has gotten better, and while she has apologised, she has still made very many mistakes,”

“Oh,”

“It takes a very determined person to change the gods,” Iphigenia said. Before realising she had rattled on into her on thoughts and ideals instead of helping Silena deal with hers. “I’m sorry-I didn’t mean to-,”

“No,” Silena said, tilting her head. “No, please continue,”

“It takes a very determined person to change a god,” Iphigenia whispered in a small voice, that reminded her of her days back before a huntress. Back in a time when she sounded more like Lacy, the Aphrodite child, then a warrior. “But I heard from Zagreus-,”

“Who?”

“A god of rebirth,” Iphigenia waved off, before continuing to see the confused expression and continuing. “And hunting, he’s one of the few males that Artemis keeps in company,”

“Why?”

“To oversimplify, he’s good company and gay,”

“Ohhh,”

“Mhm,” Iphigenia nodded. “So anyway, the god said that apparently, Bianca has been changing the underworld by storm. Persephone has been more accepting and appreciative to the mortal children and Hades is learning to be kinder now! Kinder!”

“Seriously! Have you met Hades before?”

“Oh, that’s another story in its entirety,” Iphigenia smiled. Unable to believe that a product of Artemis and a daughter of Aphrodite were actually beginning to become friends.

0-0-0

Calypso was a sorceress.

She wasn’t meant to be in the front lines, that was the leaders job. Except she was.

Reyna and Jason were in the front, leading the army, their voices loud and commanding, filling the Romans with vigour and power with each command. Hazel was there too, not so much in the front but nowhere near the back.

Then Jason began to speak.

“Hazel,” Jason slashed another Draceane, but Hazel was all ears on the leader. “You and me, we need to cut ahead. Get to the Titan, and destroy the throne as quickly as we can,”

Hazel nodded. Calypso and her were one of the few who knew the full extent of Kronos’s power, so she only hoped that the Greeks were doing fine on the other side of things.

“Reyna,” Jason’s voice commanded. “You continue to lead the army with Calypso while we go ahead, circle around using Skippy to give instructions if you can,”

Reyna nodded. And with that it seemed like Jason had his permission, as he wrapped his hands around Hazel’s waist and took to the skies. Flying away.

Calypso locked eyes with Reyna as then girl whispered into her pegasus’s ear and took to the skies. Leaving Calypso behind to continue to take charge. Each spell tearing through another monster foot-soldier.

She began to lose count after a while, they just kept coming. Monster after monster after monster. There was such a mass amount of them it was insanity that the Romans had to fight them all off. But Cal kept pushing through.

She could see some of her comrades slowing down, losing will and strength, and the Dracene were ruthless, anyone who couldn’t raise a sword in time got cut down, they were making progress but not fast enough.

Then Reyna began to speak.

Or more accurately, yell. 

“ROMANS!”

Her voice carried leadership and power, almost as if she was lending it to her fellow warriors. She shouted instructions, ordering the shield carriers to move in front as archers had actually been spotted coming around and-.

And Calypso stopped listening from then.

She watched this girl. _This woman._ Command an army with skilled expertise unknown to most people. Suddenly, their eyes met and Reyna smiled at her, small and for Cal’s eyes only.

As she could only stare and realise at the absolute worst timing.

That she was in love with Reyna. That she was _in love with Reyna_.

Shit.

0-0-0

The Hephaestus cabin was not taking Beckendorf's missing better than Silena. They honestly weren’t taking it better than when the Apollo cabin lost Michael.

The only assurance they did have this time was that he was _missing_ , not _dead_.

Jake Mason and Shane had gone out to reset traps (and hopefully find Beckendorf somewhere passed out if they could). While Christopher and Nyssa threw themselves into making things, focusing on work instead of addressing the issue.

Leo himself was sitting on the sidelines staring at his hands. Piper was at his side talking to him but he couldn’t hear her over the ringing in his ear.

He should’ve done better, he should’ve _noticed_ quicker. He was Beckendorf’s brother, he-he should’ve-.

Piper snapped a finger in his face, gaining his attention onto her.

“Hey…” She said gently. “He’ll be fine, he’s the strongest Hephaestus kid I know, there is no way he’ll get hurt,”

Leo smiled, it was small and strained but it was there. “I thought I was the strongest Hephaestus kid,”

Piper chuckled. “In your dreams, shorty. You’re more like the sixth,”

0-0-0

Bianca rushed over as she saw Rachel get out of the helicopter, dragging the pilot out too.

She was still dressed like she was on vacation, in beach shorts, a T-shirt, and sandals. Her hair was tangled and her face was green from the helicopter ride. 

Annabeth climbed out last. 

Bianca stared at her in awe. "I didn't know you could fly a helicopter."

"Neither did I," Annabeth said. "My dad's crazy into aviation. Plus, Daedalus had some notes on flying machines. I just took my best guess on the controls."

"You saved my life," Rachel said.

Annabeth flexed her bad shoulder. "Yeah, well . . . let's not make a habit of it. What are you doing here, Dare? Don't you know better than to fly into a war zone?" 

"I-," Rachel glanced at Percy. "I had to be here. I knew Percy was in trouble." 

"Got that right," Annabeth grumbled. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some injured friends I've got to tend to. Glad you could stop by, Rachel."

'Annabeth—," Percy called. 

She stormed off. Rachel plopped down on the curb and put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to . . . I always mess things up." 

“It’s okay,” Bianca reassured. Sitting beside her. “Jealousy is just a bitch of an emotion,”

"So what's the message you wanted to deliver?" Percy asked.

She frowned. "How did you know about that?" 

"A dream." 

Rachel didn't look surprised. She tugged at her beach shorts. They were covered in drawings, which wasn't unusual for her, but these symbols Bianca recognized: Greek letters, pictures from camp beads, sketches of monsters and faces of gods. She didn't understand how Rachel could have known about some of that. She'd never been to Olympus or Camp Half-Blood.

"I've been seeing things too," she muttered. "I mean, not just through the Mist. This is different. I've been drawing pictures, writing lines—" 

"In Ancient Greek," Percy said. "Do you know what they say?" 

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I was hoping . . . well, if you had gone with us on vacation, I was hoping you could have helped me figure out what's happening to me."

Bianca realised at that moment that she was being third wheeled, and while usually she’d stay and listen. She had better things she could be doing than this romance session.

Bianca got up and stretched. “I guess i’ll just-,”

“Wait!” Rachel tugged on her hand. “I need to talk to you too,”

“Really?”

“This… this is for both of you,” Rachel admitted. Taking in a small breath before speaking. “Something is about to happen. A sacrifice."

"What do you mean? Whose sacrafice?" 

"I don't know." She looked around nervously. "Don't you feel it?" 

"Is that the message you wanted to tell us?" Percy asked.

"No." Rachel hesitated. "I'm sorry. I'm not making sense, but that thought just came to me. The message I wrote on the beach was different. It had your name in it."

“The message you wrote on the beach?” Bianca tilted her head.

“She wrote my name in ancient greek in the sand,” Percy explained, which didn’t really explain anything.

Rachel nodded. "I don't know its meaning. But I know it's important. You have to hear it. It said, _Perseus, you are not the hero_."

Percy blinked, before looking at Bianca. “Is... is Bianca the-,”

“No,” Rachel responded instantly. “But I do have something for Bianca as well,”

Bianca listened and waited as Rachel spoke inside a _very familiar_ voice she had not heard in a while, Lachesis croaky grandma voice spoke through Rachel almost as if a command. 

“You can’t save everyone, Bianca. You can’t keep everything according to plan,”

0-0-0

Nico was in the middle of a family dinner.

Makaria and Zagreus were at both of his sides, practically like bodyguards. Hades was at one end rubbing the krook of his nose as Persephone had both hands on her face in disappointment. While Demeter stood at the end of the table, acting as if she owned the place.

He was not joking when he said this is exactly what he imagined most suburban white thanksgiving tables looked like.

"You have to!" Nico insisted. Smashing both hands onto the table. Glaring at Demeter as if trying to make her talk again.

All that woman had done since she’d gotten here was make it so that Hades and Persephone wouldn’t leave.

“Are you just going to let him order you around like that!” Demeter exclaimed. “And I thought you were a king? I didn’t know you let mortals run the place,”

Persephone was growling under her breath, but Hades took the bait. 

"I don't let mortals run the place!" Hades’ eyes blazed. "I'm a god!"

"Father," Zagreus said, he couldn’t convince Demeter to stop being a nuisance. None of them gould. "if Olympus falls, your own palace's safety doesn't matter. You'll fade too." 

"I am not an Olympian!" he growled. "My family has made that quite clear."

"You are,'' Nico said. "Whether you like it or not." 

"You know what they did to your mother," Hades said. "Zeus killed her. And you would have me help them? They deserve what they get!"

"Could we not talk about that woman?" Demeter tightened her grip on a glass. “When I had agreed to let her stay I had expected you to be faithful at the very least. But I was _wrong_ ,”

“Agreed!” Persephone gave a false and honestly terrifying laugh. “ _Agreed_! You have never agreed with me! With my marriage! You still think I’m a child!”

“Kore-,”

Persephone banged her hand on the table, Nico practically flew into the air, and only didn’t die on impact because Makaria caught the back of his jacket.

Persephone’s voice truly showed the might of the underworld's queen as he eyes gouged in a chilling black. Staring at her mother. “I don’t use that name anymore, it is _dead_ to me,”

“Hades forced you to change it didn’t he!” Demeter ignored her own wrongdoings. “He wanted it to seem less wrong that he kidnapped a little girl,”

“I was not kidnapped _mother_ ,” Persephone narrowed her eyes. “I chose to go down here, I chose to live here. If I had the choice I would live here all the time! But you don’t let me be who I want to be!”

“Because he has poisoned you! Made you think you are something you aren’t. If you just spent a year up on the surface you’d understand what he’d done wrong!”

Hades was silent, so were the other gods. Nico looked over the two of them with caution.

“Then what am I?!” Persephone asked, yelling a higher note. “What am I then if who I am now isn’t what you want me to be!”

“My daughter! You are my daughter!”

“Well I wish I wasn’t!” Persephone screamed. “I wish you never made me you-you _utter excuse of a mother_. I wish someone else was my mother who actually cared about me! And didn’t just-push out hatred to everything I do!”

The table was silent. Demeter stared in shock as Hades walked over to his wife and put a hand on her shoulder. The goddess immediately leaned into the contact.

Nico didn’t know how to bring back up the fact that there was a war to fight. So he sat there in awkward silence, thinking over what to do next.

Makaria was chewing her food and looking down, while Zagreus was doing the exact same thing with a drink of water. They probably had more experience on how to deal with this.

“Mom,” Nico started, gaining Persephone’s attention. “I-I’m sorry but-,”

“Right,” Persephone wiped her eyes. “War, yes,”

Hades kissed the top of his wife's head. “Do you want to help tear my father apart with me?”

Persephone laughed. Then she smiled. “Oh Hades, you always know exactly how to cheer me up,”

“You can’t seriously be suggesting we go up against _him_ ,” Demeter didn’t yell but she did look affronted. “Have you forgotten the first time!”

“No, I haven’t,” Hades and Demeter both shuddered at the same time. “But I owe my children, especially my mortal ones, to stand up and take a chance,”

“You don’t have to come with us mother,” Persephone said. Nico was glad that they had both agreed. “You can stay down here,”

Demeter twirled her wine glass in front of her, looking down and contemplating seriously. “I… I don’t want you getting hurt Kor… Persephone,”

Zagreus snorted. “Like mom would ever let a mere titan hurt her,”

The mood began to lift at the table a bit. It was honestly nice when Demeter wasn’t yelling or complaining.

“Are you coming or not,” Hades stood up.

Demeter looked at Hades, than her daughter, then back at Hades again and sighed. “I need some time to think…”

“We won’t be able to leave immediately,” Nico admitted. “We have to organise the armies first, and make sure that Makaria and Zagreus can actually look after the underworld while Dad’s gone,”

The two siblings choked, before looking at Nico with betrayal.

“You’ve got time, so make your choice,” Nico finished as he chose to walk off into his room and get changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hi! Thank you all for the lovely comments (I love and read all of themmmm!) But onto the stuff. Still haven't answered where Beckendorf is yet, which will happen soon I swear. Also I don't know how to write gods?!?!  
> Like someone complimented me and just?!!?!?!? I am making this shit up as I go fam. One minute they're human another they're etheral beings! Still thanks for that!


	14. Love and Death go hand and hand (even if sometimes death is kinder)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So some warnings!  
> There will be death, sort of graphic descriptions of a dead body, and panic attacks. If these trigger you then please stop reading this chapter, as this is what mostly happens.
> 
> Anyway. I hope you enjoy, and don't worry I made myself cry while reading this.

The Hephaestus cabin was out of Greek fire. The Apollo cabin and the Hunters were scrounging for arrows. Most of the campers had already ingested so much ambrosia and nectar they didn't dare take any more. 

Twenty campers, fifteen Hunters, and half a dozen satyrs were left in fighting shape. The rest had taken refuge on Olympus. 

The Party Ponies tried to form ranks, but they staggered and giggled and they all smelled like root beer. The Texans were head-butting the Coloradoans. The Missouri branch was arguing with Illinois. The chances were pretty good the whole army would end up fighting each other rather than the enemy.

Bianca was happy that Piper was inside, safe from what was about to come, but she wasn’t so happy that Leo was here.

She was especially unhappy, when a certain blond haired medic came forward and glared at her.

“My esteemed rival,” Bianca said bitterly. She knew she should’ve been thankful for that fact that Will had saved her life, but just because he had done his job didn’t mean she could just magically like his personality.

“You need to get back inside, doctors orders,”

“I don’t _need_ to do anything,”

“You _literally_ had a goddess nearly kill you! You know what, when was the last time you had your bandages changed?”

“I did it like an hour ago!”

“What?!” Will exclaimed. “You did your own-why am I not surprised?!”

“I knew what I was doing!”

“You aren’t a doctor!”

“Neither are you!”

“Ughhhh!” Will groaned. “You are just! The most frustrating and _annoying_ patient I have ever had! Why do I even bother!”

“Why are you even here? What’s the real reason? If you wanted me to go inside you would’ve called Lee,”

Will looked down and mumbled something, before clearing his throat and talking. “I wanted to know whether you knew if Nico was okay?”

Bianca uncrossed her arms and softened. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, I… last time I saw him he wasn’t doing to great given-,”

“Given that I was dying, yes,” Bianca nodded.

“And,” Will glared a bit for being interrupted. “Given the fact that he literally tethered you to the living world while I operated, I was wondering whether… whether he was okay?”

Bianca blinked again. Then another time.

He was serious.

Huh. Dedicated doctor.

“From what I feel he’s fine,” Bianca knew that because she checked a lot, making sure everyone she cared about was still here after Beckendorf’s disappearance. “A little anxious, but nothing too wrong,”

Will nodded, before immediately turning around and practically slamming back inside.

“Wow,” Leo said in awe. “That has to be the only conversation between you two that has ended civilly,”

Bianca scowled at Leo. Who only looked back and shrugged. They both began to move over to where Percy and Annabeth were.

A lot of people could hear them, so it wasn’t necessarily a private conversation, but it did still feel like one of those friend meetings.

Chiron trotted up with Rachel on his back. Bianca felt a twinge of jealousy because Chiron rarely gave anyone a ride, and never a mortal. 

"Your friend here has some useful insights, Percy," he said. 

Rachel blushed. "Just some things I saw in my head."

“A drakon," Chiron said. "A Lydian drakon, to be exact. The oldest and most dangerous kind." 

Percy stared at her. "How did you know that?" 

"I'm not sure," Rachel admitted. "But this drakon has a particular fate. It will be killed by the fires of a Hephaestus child." 

Leo flinched at the stare Bianca and Percy gave him.

Annabeth crossed her arms. "There hasn’t been a child of Hephastus who has used fire in years, not since one of them burned down the entire city of London. So that’s impossible,"

Leo gulped, he only stopped shaking once Bianca put a hand on his shoulder.

“But it’s true,” Rachel said. "I just saw it. I can't explain." 

"Well, let's hope you're wrong," Percy said.

A roar shook the ground. It sounded very close. 

"Rachel," Bianca said, "get inside the building." 

"I want to stay." 

A shadow blotted out the sun. Across the street, the drakon slithered down the side of a skyscraper. It roared, and a thousand windows shattered. 

"On second thought," Rachel said in a small voice, "I'll be inside."

Bianca turned back to fight. Taking out and getting into a fighting stance, trying to remember her Drakon fighting classes, but nothing could’ve prepared her for what happened.

See, there are dragons, and then there are drakons. 

Drakons are several millennia older than dragons, and much larger. They look like giant serpents. Most don't have wings. Most don't breathe fire (though some do). All are poisonous. All are immensely strong, with scales harder than titanium. Their eyes can paralyze you from just fear a-fucking-lone, which meant that unless you were an english man casually sipping tea in the train systems as bombs dropped above you in WW2, then you would not have the balls to handle this thing.

Meanwhile, the enemy army advanced down Fifth Avenue. All the cars and people that had been pushed aside only made it easier for the enemies to approach. 

The Party Ponies swished their tails nervously. Chiron galloped up and down their ranks, shouting encouragement to stand tough and think about victory and root beer, but Bianca figured any second they would panic and run.

Bianca looked at Leo, who was staring at the Drakon with bone-crushing fear. The kind that seemed he would be unable to even think thoughts other than _run_. So she turned to Percy, who had supposedly made the same conclusion, and nodded.

“We can do it,” Bianca whispered. “Hades and Poseidon, two big three kids. We can take it,”

“Maybe we should have Thalia join us for extra measure?” Percy asked. “Three big three kids?”

Bianca looked at the hunter. Seeing by the way she was holding herself and commanding her sisters, Bianca didn’t think she had it in her to ask the girl.

So she turned to Annabeth

"Will you help us?" Bianca asked. 

"That's what I do," she said miserably. "I help my friends."

Bianca winced at the jealousy reminder.

"Go invisible," Percy said, though his voice was filled with guilt. "Look for weak links in its armor while I keep it busy. Just be careful." 

“I’ll join,” Clarisse said. Coming to their left. Holding her spear and crouching into a fighting position. Leaving no room for argument. “I’ll try hitting it in the eyes. You go for the ankles if you can,”

Everyone nodded, knowing where they were going and what they were doing.

“We’ll take the Drakon! Everyone else, hold the line against the army!” Bianca whistled. "Mrs. O'Leary, heel!" 

"ROOOF!"

The hellhound leaped over a line of centaurs and gave a kiss that smelled suspiciously of pepperoni pizza. 

Bianca drew her sword and the four of them charged the monster.

0-0-0

Silena wasn’t paying attention to the Drakon.

Or, more accurately, she was trying really hard not to make it affect her fighting. Because even with that _thing_ in the background she still had to fight for her life.

That was all Halfbloods seemed to ever do.

So, since she was so determined to ignore the beast, she was the first one to see what was going on.

Kronos was waving through the crowd, a wall of Giants not exactly towering over him, but close enough towards him that nobody could charge ahead to meet him face to face. The scythe hung on his back, firmly strapped but still easily detachable.

He was holding a chain in his left hand, that seemed to be dragging something behind him that Silena couldn’t quite make out. She prayed it wasn’t an impossible monster, given the fact that all of the top tier fighters were with the Drakon.

Then Kronos stopped, and moved to the left, revealing what he was dragging along behind him.

Silena inhaled sharply. Shaking her head slightly.

“Beckendorf?”

Leo’s head snapped towards her, before looking where her eyes were locked. She almost wished they didn’t because of the sight she saw.

Beckendorf’s face was bruised and bloody, he stumbled as he walked though it wasn’t like he could stop as the shackle around his neck prevented him from stopping. His clothes were torn and skin scarred since Silena had last seen him.

Kronos tugged again and Beckendorf fell to his knees.

Silena began to panic.

“Wait- _wait, wait NO_!” Silena yelled as she began to tear through the crowd of monsters. Leo followed close behind her, whacking his sword at any monster that got to close.

Many other campers began to notice what was going on 

Kronos began dislodging his scythe and twirling it a bit in one hand.

“KRONOS!” Silena yelled. Slapping as much charmspeak as she could into her words. “STOP, PLEASE! HE HASN’T DONE ANYTHING!”

Except Kronos was a Titan, so he continued as if he had never heard her.

If she had her pegasus she’d be able to fly over there, but a wing injury prevented that, so she was now forced to carve an entryway towards him.

Silena was getting closer and closer. Not one monster was able to stop her. Not even the giants and she quickly pushed past them and into the circle, ready to stop an execution.

Except she began to feel herself slow, as if she was in a tub of mud that had encased her entire body. She wasn’t completely stopped, she was still moving, but it was so incredibly slow that she knew she wasn’t going to make it in time.

Silena looked at Leo, praying he was still able to move. Only to see he wasn’t.

“This is what happens when you don’t perform up to standards, Silena Beauregard,” Kronos called her attention. Readying the scythe up to swing.

Silena stared desperately at Beckendorf.

Only to see him mouth ‘I love you,’

No. No. No. No. _No. No. No. Nonononononono-_

In one clean motion, Silena watched as Beckendorf’s head was sliced off it’s body and rolled to the side. Turned away so Silena couldn’t see his face, only the back of his decapitated head.

His body fell to the floor. Revealing a bare neck that had fresh blood pouring out of it, beginning to paint the pavement red, covering up the already flecks of gold that lay there.

No.

No she could-.

He was dead. It was all Silena’s fault.

Then time unfreezed and suddenly Silena was barrelling straight towards Kronos. She took two steadying steps, trying to get a hold of the difference.

(And the fact that he was dead, but he couldn’t _be_ dead he had a life ahead of him. _He couldn’t be dead_ )

Silena reached for her sword but she wasn’t _fast enough_. Not because of Kronos’s powers but because she felt like she couldn’t move. Everything felt numb as she still couldn’t look away from Beckendorf’s dead body.

Red.

It was so _red_.

She didn’t notice Kronos’ cruel smile.

She didn’t notice the way Kronos began to lift his scythe.

 _She didn’t notice_ Kronos striking down on his next target.

Her.

What she did notice was the hand that grappled onto her shirt, tugging her away, and the red (there was still so much _red_ ), searing hot fire that burned in her place.

The pavement cracked as the scythe sliced into it, though it quickly retracted, staying by Kronos’s side.

The only things separating Silena from Kronos’s were the flames that wrapped and danced across the ground. And Leo, who stood in front of Silena with tears rolling down his cheeks.

His stance was protective, with his hands holding flames that were ready to burst and burn at Kronos at any moment. Silena couldn’t see Leo’s face, but she could tell it was _furious_.

“Oh,” Kronos remarked. “Interesting,”

“You killed my brother,”

Silena flinched at the tone of Leo’s voice. Filled with more hate and malice than there should have been in that boy.

(She also flinched at the reminder of Beckendorf’s dead body. Which lay out of the way of the fire, but still close enough so any time she could look she’d still see.

So. Much. Red.)

Kronos only raised an eyebrow.

“You killed my brother,” Leo lowered into a fighting stance. “You’re going to die for that,”

Kronos smiled wickedly and laughed, as if the thought of someone as below him as a halfblood, not just a half-blood, but a child of Hephaestus, would be the death of him was a joke. So unimaginable it was somehow funny.

His mistake.

Leo was the first to attack, shooting fire right in Kronos’s face. It didn’t burn him, leaving no mark that suggested fire, but it did seem to hurt. As Kronos yowled in pain and stepped back, blinking, before screaming at the giants to do their jobs.

The giants. Who had been watching the fight and execution as if it was a movie, suddenly remembered and began trying to kill Leo and Silena.

Leo burned the first one down in cold blood, while Silena slashed through as many giants as she could. It wasn’t until half-way though that she noticed Kronos had retreated like a coward. She muttered some french curses as she slashed a giant's toe off.

A Drakon’s screech and Annabeth's yelling reminded her of a few things at once.

That Leo was a child of Hephaestus with fire powers, that his powers were the only thing that could kill the drakon that had only just barely missed spitting Clarisse ( _Achilles_ ) in the face. And Leo was going to accidentally let his friends die if he set off to continue his revenge rampage.

She was not mentally stable enough to do this. She was not in the right mind to stop a revenge spree when _she_ wanted to go on said revenge spree.

(Gods, she wished Lee was here)

“Leo!” Silena yelled. Trying to put a hand on his shoulder, only for her to hiss as it lightly burned her skin. “Leo! You need to stop!”

“He’s running away! We need to chase after him!”

“Leo! There will be another time!”

“He needs to die _NOW_!”

“ _GODS DAMMIT LEO!_ ” Silena screamed. She wasn’t going to use charmspeak for this sort of situation, because it would be borderline manipulation, but truthfully? She was considering it. “ _I_ _NEED YOU TO GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER! THAT DRAKON IS GOING TO KILL EVERYONE IF YOU DON’T STOP IT NOW!_ ”

Leo blinked, and blinked again. The fire of revenge rubbed out of his eyes, but the rage and fury still laid there as he turned to the Drakon. His hands burst into flames (which was something Silena would never get used to) and he ran forward.

Right towards the Drakon.

0-0-0

Percy was barely keeping himself alive at the moment, and he was the one with the iron skin.

Clarisse had plunged her spear into one of the eyes, making the beast slightly less terrifying, Annabeth had gotten a good hit in the back, Bianca and Percy himself had both scratched the ankles, and Mrs. O’Leary was just good at getting them all out of bad situations.

But it wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t enough they were still losing.

They _needed_ Leo. But he was inside that mess of a battle, and Percy didn’t even have the advantage of being able to see the bright orange shirt, as Leo didn’t wear it.

Percy dived out of the way again, dragging Bianca along with him as squirts of acid rained where they just were.

“When does Leo show up?!” Percy asked in exasperation. “I don’t know how much more of this we can take!”

“How should I know?!” Bianca yelled back.

Oh right. She’d been dead. Percy still didn’t know how to react to that fact.

“Well he better fucking soon, because-,”

Percy was cut off when something ran past him. A fiery blob of a person running straight towards the fucking drakon. Percy blinked and processed for a few seconds, before coming to the realisation that the person was _Leo_.

The drakon, noticing Leo, opened its mouth to spit acid. Only for Leo to shoot red, hot flames into the beasts mouth. Burning it beyond belief already.

One shot and he’d already done more damage than the four of them combined.

Clarisse and Annabeth were now next to the two of them. Watching in awe as Leo absolutely wrecked the Drakons shit. Stuffing more and more fire down the beasts throat.

“Squirt was hiding _that_ this entire time!” Clarisse yelled. “And he only uses it now?!”

“He’s… he’s never summoned this much before,” Bianca said in a worry.

“Of course you knew about this,”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?!”

“Well-,”

“Wait, shut up both of you,” Annabeth cut in. “He wouldn’t have joined unless something had happened, and especially not with this amount of-,”

“Rage,” Bianca began to look more worried by the second. Their faces were illuminated by the raging battle of fire and acid going on in front of them. “He’s so… angry. Why?”

Percy watched as Bianca seemed to reach into herself. Counting… something and feeling souls all throughout the area. He was honestly lucky to have never had that power, as he would never be able to focus.

Suddenly her face whitened and her breath stuttered.

“What?” Percy asked anxiously. “What happened?”

“Beckendorf-he… he’s dead,”

And just like that the world seemed to have stopped moving. The four of them were all frozen, none of them knowing what to do as they just _processed_ what had happened. Because it couldn’t be possible.

Beckendorf was supposed to have a future ahead of him. He had a girlfriend. He was going to college. He wasn’t _supposed_ to die. He wasn’t-.

Clarisse was the first to move. “I need to find Silena,”

Gods _Silena_ . If this was how _Leo_ took the news what would happen once-.

Percy didn’t want to think. He didn’t want to do anything except realise his own humanity in this. He already knew they could die at any moment, he already knew they were _soldiers_ . But someone he was close, maybe not Grover levels close but still _close enough_ , with dying was just the final straw.

Shit. Children were dying.

People who hadn’t even gotten out of _school_ yet.

Percy gulped and watched again as Leo shot fire straight into the eyes of the drakon.

0-0-0

When the Drakon was finally dead the monsters had all retreated. The only threat left was Leo.

His breathing was uneven and sharp and he was still on fire.

Bianca ignored her own problems. Ignored the fact that she hadn’t been able to keep everything according to plan (just like Rachel _fucking_ said) and focused on the fact that Leo seemed to be having a panic attack.

She could tell. She’d been there for a few of them.

He wasn’t loud in his panic attacks like Bianca usually was. His were different, but still similar enough that she knew what to do.

“Make everyone go back inside,” Bianca practically commanded Percy and Annabeth. “I’ll deal with Leo,”

Annabeth nodded. Already directing people back to Olympus.

Bianca made her way over to Leo. Walking slowly as to not be seen as a threat.

“Leo,” She tried to be calm, but she didn’t think she got it quite right. “Do you think you can drop the fire?”

Leo’s head snapped over to her, his eyes were wild and erratic. His words came out chokily and half as a sob. “Can’t. I-,”

He didn’t continue.

“It’s okay,” Bianca whispered. “You’re okay now,”

His breathing was still erratic. He wasn’t speaking anymore and the only sound he _did_ make was from the fire crackling around his body.

“Leo, I need you to breathe,” Bianca came as close as she could without getting burned. “Just match my breathing, okay?”

She began to take deep breaths. Encouraging Leo to follow in her example. She didn’t even know whether he could hear her but she had to try. Slowly, slowly but ever so surely, Leo began to match her breathing.

“Leo,” She addressed him again. “Can you turn off your fire?”

He did. The flames began to diminish, fleeting back into his hands before flickering out entirely. Bianca stridded over.

“Can I touch you?”

Leo nodded jerkily.

She took his hand and slowly placed it on her heart. “It’s okay, you’re going to be okay,”

Leo let out another gasp and clenched tighter to the fabric of her hoodie.

“Sorry,”

“You don’t have anything you need to apologise for,”

“I’m still sorry,”

“Leo,” She tugged him closer. Letting him hide inside of her. “Leo, I would honestly be more worried if you didn't react. It’s fine that _that_ happened, you’ve been through shit, you have nothing to be ashamed of for it.”

Leo didn’t respond, but he did slowly cry onto her shoulder.

She didn’t mention the tears. Only rubbing slow circles on Leo’s back, hoping that helped stop some of the pain.

It didn’t.

0-0-0

"Hey, girl." Percy tried to sound upbeat, going over to Mrs O’Leary. "I know you're tired, but I've got one more big favor to ask you." He leaned next to her and whispered in her ear.

0-0-0

As soon as Clarisse had heard about Beckendorf, she’d run off to find Silena.

She’d found her crying on Lee’s shoulder, on a corner up away from everyone else.

She reached out her hand, ready to comfort Silena and give her support. Only for Lee to lift his head and shake it.

Clarisse hesitated, before realising she wasn’t wanted and moved away.

0-0-0

Leo and Bianca made their way up to Olympus.

Leo was nervous, more jittery than usual and barely holding himself together. He looked as though he just wanted to _go home_ , but that was something they couldn’t do at the moment.

Bianca wasn’t doing to good herself. But she swore once this war was over she was going to sit down and cuddle her girlfriend for like, three weeks.

Somebody _else_ can save the world if it starts to fall apart, Bianca was not doing shit.

The first thing that greeted her was Piper. The two of them hugged each other tightly. Before letting go and speaking.

“What happened? You guys took so long to come up-,”

“We know,” Bianca cut in. “And there's a reason… just what happened while we weren’t here,”

“Percy decided that sitting on his fathers throne was the best course of action, I left before he even tried to get on, he might be dead for all I know,” Piper shrugged.

Rachels words of _You can’t keep everything going according to plan_ ringed in her ears. She still couldn’t accept it. She had already lost to many people she couldn’t lose _more_.

Needless to say though, this was not going according to plan.

Now she had two options of how to react to this, start _crying_ or start _laughing_ and she was already so tired of crying.

So she started laughing at Percy’s dumb decision. Leo soon joined her and finally Piper rounded them out.

They all probably looked insane.

0-0-0

Lee held onto Silena tightly as the girl cried.

He… didn’t know what to do.

(Beckendorf was _dead_. What could you do after that?)

Beckendorf was his friend.

He _was_ his friend.

Lee started to cry too. Because at that moment he didn’t know what else he could do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment. They give me sustenance.  
> Also I wanna know whether this was a good scene. I tried to make it dramatic and sad but I don't KNOW whether I've pulled that off.


	15. Affections, Confessions and Learned Lessons, Oh My!

“I thought you had stopped him from dying,”

Percy’s words couldn’t be heard by the others, but that didn’t mean Bianca had missed them.

She could admit it. She flinched.

It wasn’t recognisable, especially with the fact that she was running back to the elevator down to earth. Bianca didn’t show it, only kept on running and tried to also ignore Percy’s (somewhat) accusatory eyes.

“I thought I did too,” Bianca responded as they reached the elevator door. Ready to walk out into a sea of murder and death. Also known as war.

0-0-0

Hazel did not include destroying a throne to be a higher problem than killing a titan, but who was she to judge how Jason sorted his priorities.

Oh, she should probably backpedal a bit.

See, after her and Jason had blasted off like Team Rocket (Oh look! She made a pop-culture reference! Leo would be so proud) halfway through their ride something had  _ shifted _ . Hazel wasn’t as into magic or as good at it as Calypso but even she could guess what was happening.

They’d passed the mist.

Up to this point Camp Jupiter had been getting half glimpses, flickers at most, of the palace due to the amount of mist being used to hide it. They knew it was  _ there _ , because of Calypso, but they hadn’t seen it for more than a second.

Now Hazel was witnessing it to its entirety.

The palace itself, which reminds Hazel of a very oversized mausoleum, was made completely from black marble, which made it both terrible and beautiful. The palace's glimmering black towers reached the clouds, like greedy fingers, reaching out for the stars.

“Oh,” Hazel whispered. Suddenly losing her voice.

“We’ll be fine,” Jason reassured. “We just need to get through the few Draceane guarding the door and then we’re in,”

She didn’t know whether she  _ wanted  _ to get in though.

That place gave her the creeps.

She was an expert on rocks and crystals. People knew this, mostly because Don tried to take advantage of it, but people knew it. So Jason should know that Hazel could feel how the castle was practically made out of nightmares and shattered dreams.

Jason set her down at the front. Together, they took out the four guards and walked towards the humongous door, or more accurately, drawbridge.

She’d never seen a Titan before. So knowing it was probably built for their size made her gulp.

She had faced big monsters before. But these were the former gods and Hazel was a little intimidated by it.

“Can you-?”

“Yes,” Hazel nodded. “Yes, I… just give me a few seconds,”

Hazel took in a deep breath and concentrated, before finding where the opening lever was and twirling her finger, making the chains unravel and open the door.

“Do you know where Saturn is,” Jason said as they began to walk through the halls. A cold wind blew through it, making Hazel shiver so hard that it seemed to go straight through her spine.

“No,” Hazel answered honestly. “But I know where he might be,”

“Lead the way, soldier,”

Hazel half hissed. Great. Jason was in army mode. Where he saw that the mission mattered more than the people.

Just like a true Roman.

Greek Fire burned all day long in braziers along the walls, glowing against the marble floor. It was the only light source, as even with the winds there wasn’t a window in sight.

Hazel kept on marching, taking twists and turns that would take her to the supposed hall room. Where the huge Black Throne of Saturn would be located.

Supposedly they’d have to fight Saturn, or  _ something _ . Cal had said that the Throne room wouldn’t be unguarded.

Then she turned another corner and sucked in a breath at what she saw.

Jason didn’t turn the corner as she turned back to take in a breath. “What is it? What did you see?”

“Keep it down!” Hazel whisper yelled. She took in a breath. She wasn’t really afraid of it, it had just taken her by surprise. “He’s huge, and looks like a door man. And… I think he has two heads?”

Jason muttered a curse word under his breath. He peeked over to see what Hazel had just seen and cursed again. “Janus,”

“Who?”

“He’s the two heads on the city gate,” Jason explained. “He’s the god of choices, doorways, beginnings, and endings,”

“There are two doors,”

Jason grimaced. “This isn’t going to be good. Do you think you can just shadow travel?”

Hazel tried, she really did, but this was a  _ god  _ and he was blocking off her powers. “No, sorry,”

“It’s fine,” Jason stood up straighter, as if preparing for a fight. “We’ll just have to fight him then,”

Um. Did she hear him right?

Jason got his sword into a proper position, ready in case the  _ God  _ ambushed him.

She heard him right.

Hazel took out her sword as well. She trusted Jason with making decisions and leading, but she wondered whether he had altitude sickness from flying so high all the time.

They walked forward.

Janus was dressed like a New York City doorman: a long black overcoat, shiny shoes, and a black top-hat that somehow managed to stay on his double-wide head. Janus had two faces on one head. One face looking eastward, the other one looking westward. It was impossible to look at both faces at once. So Hazel decided the right one.

Janus seemed to have noticed them. As one of the heads, the right one, smiled. Not brightly, but if he was about to enjoy a good show.

“Well, Hazel?” said his left face. “Hurry up!”

“Don’t mind him,” said the right face. “He’s terribly rude. Right this way, miss.”

Hazel looked at Jason, who signalled her to continue walking forward.

They stopped right at his feet.

“Uh… Lord Janus? I don’t-,”

“No! No! Young lady, you talk to me!” The left head said.

“No,” The right head complained. “I never get talked to first, you always steal the people talking to me,”

The two-faced man regarded Hazel as best he could out of the corners of his eyes. It was impossible to look at him straight on without focusing on one side or the other. 

Behind him were two exits, blocked by wooden doors with huge iron locks, meaning that even if she opened the lock (lot’s of concentration, not a lot of time) she still wouldn’t be able to open the door without either the Gods or Jasons assistance.

Janus held a silver key, which he kept passing from his left hand to his right hand.

“Which way is to the throne room?” Hazel asked.

“One probably leads to the way you wish to go,” the right face said encouragingly. “The other leads to certain death.”

“Which way leads to Saturn?” Jason seemed to be annoyed with the God. So was Hazel at this point.

“Oh!” The left one sneered. “He thinks  _ Saturn  _ would waste his time here. Too bad! He has better things to do than quarrel with mere  _ demigods _ ,”

The right one used his arm to smack the left side of his body, part of Hazel wondered what a fist fight between the two would look like.

“Stop lying to him!” The right one said, before regarding Hazel. “Anyway, she’s the one who has to make the choice, not the boy,”

“What choice?”

“The choice that could ruin the future,” The Left seemed to gleam at the thought of that. “One that could make your precious camp fall,”

“Or make it rise to new heights,” The right chimed in.

“But what’s my  _ choice _ ?” Hazel stressed. Not liking the way Jason was looking at her.

“Who do you trust  _ more _ ?” The Left head sneered. And that made Hazel flinch as she realised what the question was.

She had argued with herself  _ a lot  _ on whether to just tell the people that Greeks existed, whether to tell them what had happened on the road trip, whether to tell them that there was a whole other faction of people.

Now, she didn’t know much about the Greeks. She knew that someone named Percy (full name Percival, gifted by the multiple times Bianca had ranted about him) existed, and another person named Annabeth, she knew they had a camp up new New York and she knew that her boyfriend, Piper, Bianca, Nico and Calypso were all Greeks.

That was it.

But the Romans were so  _ convinced  _ that the Greeks were wiped out and that they were the better race, without even knowing that they’d elected a greek as their connection to the Gods.

Was it right?

She hated lying. And she hated that sickening feeling she got every single time she had to call Bianca or Nico a child of Pluto, or ignore the fact that Cal was literally immortal.

“Come on, we don’t have all day!”

“This is something that can’t be rushed! Let her take her time!”

“Hazel,” Jason cut in the two Gods. “Hazel, what does he mean by who do you trust?”

She calmed her nerves. Ignoring Jason’s question she stepped forward. “Which door is which choice,”

“Hazel!” Jason grabbed her arm, he wasn’t the concerned friend Jason at the moment, he was a commander and wanted to know why she was disobeying direct  _ orders _ . “You can’t just ignore me-!”

“Jason!” It was the loudest she’d ever been around him, and it was the loudest she ever would be. “Just let me do this,”

He let go of her arm.

Didn’t seem to like it very much, but he backed off.

“You already know,” The right side said. “You have a strong connection with the Mist, you already know which doorway lies which choice,”

She gritted her teeth at the vague answers. Kind of wishing she would stop caring so much and just stab the god.

Instead she tried to feel, reaching in and out. Feeling as much as she could, because while she might have the  _ ability  _ to be good at magic and the mist, she was nowhere near to that level yet.

So she reached, and  _ reached and reached and  _ **_reached and REACH-._ **

She opened her eyes.

And pointed to the right door. Knowing her choice and decision was set in stone to her very soul.

The left side glared but the right side, the door she’d pointed to, smirked. Tossing the keys to her.

“He’s waiting,” The left one glowered. 

The right one watched her catch the keys. “Good luck,”

Then the god disappeared into thin air.

“So much for a guard,” Jason glared at the spot the god was last in. “Hazel do you think you can even reach the lock?”

Hazel flushed at the mention of her short stature, before realising Jason probably couldn’t reach it either without his Jupiter powers. “No, can you-?”

“On it,” He snatched the keys and flew over. Unlocking the right door, opening it to reveal the main hall.

The first thing that caught her eye was in the center of the room. An armored giant struggled under the weight of a swirling funnel cloud—Atlas, holding up the sky. 

Next was the titan standing next to him. He wore black armor studded with silver dots like a starry night. His face was covered in a war helm with a ram's horn curling on either side. Hazel didn’t know what Titan he was, but it didn’t look like Saturn.

Speaking of Saturn, the final thing she recognised was The Black Throne of Saturn, cut out of a gigantic piece of pure black obsidian, and encrusted with gold and diamonds. It was one very precious throne.

The titan not stuck under the sky was the first to spot them.

Hazel couldn’t see what expression he had under that mask but she felt like he was grinning. “Heroes! I’ve been so  _ bored  _ here! You’ll be a nice distraction before the victory party!”

Jason and Hazel got into fighting positions, while the Titan pulled out a sword.

Atlas called from underneath the weight of the sky. “Let me fight them, Krios! I’m the better warrior-!”

“Shut up!” Krios, not Saturn, said. She wasn’t the only one confused as Jason’s stance slackened and his hardened expression toned down. “You had your chance! Instead you lost to a 14 year old and a stupid hunter goddess,”

“Let me-!”

“Will you shut it!” Krios barked again. Momentarily not looking at the pair of demigods so he could-supposedly-glare at the titan.

“Hazel, I need you to topple the throne, destroy it if you can,” Jason whispered to her.

She snapped her head towards him. “But that won’t do anything! You heard Altas! This is Krios, not Saturn. We should take down Krios and  _ then  _ topple the throne,”

“That was an order,” Jason said calmly.

“But-!”

“That was an  _ order  _ soldier!”

Right. This was a war. This was her superior.

“Yes Centurion Grace,” She nodded. Not liking the decision at all, she stepped into Jason’s shadow, melting through as if she walked straight into water.

She wasn’t as good at shadow travel as her siblings, but in a small enclosed room like this, with no godly Janus blocking her off, she could make it to behind the throne.

Just in time to hear the crack of lighting as Jason’s sword connected with Krios’. His body steamed, crackling with electricity as he flew in the air.

Jason flew past it, trying to stab Krios in the eye, only for the titan to try and swat him away a if he was an annoying fly. Any time Krios got to close though in smacking him, Jason would electrically zap him.

It wasn’t a full powered one. Jason hadn’t had enough time to charge up and get into a proper position to shoot from a point not in the sky.

Krios tried to use his sword to cut Jason in half, but he was quick and ducked under the sword, trying to find a weak-point in the armour to cut through.

Hazel could already tell, with her limited knowledge in fighting, that this was a standstill. Krios wasn’t going to get a hit, and any hit that Jason did get was going to do no damage in the slightest.

She knew her orders. Topple the throne, take away Saturn's main source of power. Why couldn’t she do that and help Jason kill Krios.

(Jason would probably never admit it, but he was going to need all the help he could get)

Hazel concentrated specifically on the diamonds, scattered, but extremely sharp.

“Jason! Duck!” Hazel shouted. Jason, while maybe not liking or being disappointed in her decision of joining the fight, trusted her enough (and valued his life enough) to duck when she said to.

Hazel breathed in, breathed out. Clenching and unclenching her fists before she could feel all of the diamonds shaking in anticipation.

Then she pointed at Krios.

It was like bullets whizzed through the sky. They all broke the armour of the titan, who let out a guttural scream after each hit, only getting louder and louder. The only few that didn’t hit Krios were the few that hit Atlas. He himself hissing at the pain of bleeding.

She looked back at the chair. The diamonds mustn’t have been just an outside decoration, because it looked like it had been gutted. One more kick and that chair was crumbling, no matter how strong the obsidian was.

“Jason! Finish him off!” Hazel called behind her. Turning around to focus on the chair.

Her hair flew in front of her face as she felt the blast of lightning, and heard Krios’ dying scream.

A sweet victory.

Wait, not yet.

She kicked the chair, it crumpled into obsidian shards. Far more useful than the ash of titan on the charred up titan behind her.

A sweet,  _ sweet  _ victory.

Atlas didn’t scream in agony, his lips seemed with a small dread of fear. So the main room was silent.

Jason flew down next to her. “Do you think he’s dead,”

She looked at Jason. “If he isn’t than we can probably stab him while he’s down,”

“No, I mean Saturn,” Jason said. “I mean, what  _ was  _ that! He wasn’t Saturn! He didn’t fight like a Roman! He fought as if he was  _ Greek _ !”

She didn’t respond.

Hazle could explain it. She could explain it all about Krios.

But she’d made her choice.

“I don’t know Jason,” Hazel lied through her teeth. “We can go ask Cal in private later, maybe she knows?”

Jason nodded.

They dragged the helmet down mount Orthys, watching as the castle crumbled behind them.

Leaving one kneeling titan left to carry the weight of the sky.

0-0-0

Kronos didn’t show his lack of power now that his throne was gone.

It wasn’t gone. Just less.

He still had enough in him for one final siege. And if he completed this, then no God, Demigod or Mortal would be able to stand in his way, throne or no throne.

0-0-0

Patroclus was silent.

He hadn’t said a word since Beckendorf had…

Had.

Since Beckendorf had.

(It was still had to accept what had happened)

Silena didn’t want to fight anymore.

Part of her just wanted to sit and watch as the world burned. Another part of her was just  _ too tired  _ to stand up and fight.

She sat on the bench alone now. Iphigenia had convinced Lee to fight, leaving herself alone.

Silena closed her eyes.

_ Silena opened them again. _

_ She stood on the hill that marked the boundary between sand and grass, and regarded the thing they had come for.  _

_ Troy.  _

_ It was separated from the men by a flat expanse of grass and framed by two wide, lazy rivers. Even so far away, its stone walls caught the sharp sun and gleamed. _

_ A man walked up beside her. His skin was a sort of metallic copper and his hair dusty brown. He wore the armour of a warrior, but it didn’t fit him quite right. It was too bulky, too big for him, but it didn’t make any sound. _

_ It took her two seconds to realise who was beside her. _

_ “Patroclus,” She said with a distaste she couldn’t quite keep out of her voice. _

_ “Silena,” Patroclus wasn’t angry. He only sounded sad. _

_ That only made her madder. He didn’t have the right to be mad, he had never cared about Beckendorf. He only seemed to care about stupid. Fucking. Achilles. _

_ “This is where I died,” Patroclus said. “Where we died,” _

_ They were the same person, it was a fact she sometimes forgot. _

_ They were the same person and the sooner Silena accepted it the sooner things would get better for herself. _

_ Lee told her that. _

_ “Why are you here?” Silena asked. Well. More like snapped. _

_ So sue her. The man who’s been practically physiologically torturing her shows his face and she’s supposed to not show any resentment? _

_ “Because we need to talk,” Patroclus stated. “We have avoided this for a while,” _

_ “About what?!” Silena was mad, and it wasn’t going to fade away in a snap. “What can we talk about?! The fact that you practically forced my hand on who to chose. The fact that my job as a spy killed my boyfriend-oh no, you’re happy about that aren’t you-,” _

_ Patroclus snapped his head towards her. “I’m not happy for his death!” _

_ “Well, you sure fooled me!” _

_ “I did not wish him death,” Patroclus continued. “I never did. I just… I just wanted the life I could never truly have with Achilles, do not blame me for things I had no part in,” _

_ Silena stared at him. Unable to process what he’d said for a few seconds, that only let Patroclus have enough time to continue. _

_ “That being said, I am not without faults,” Patroclus looked back at Silena. “It was my hubris that got me killed, that got us killed, and it was our hubris again that got Beckendorf killed. Maybe I did have a part of it, however indirectly, but do not use it as an excuse to hurl insults at me,” _

_ Silena clenched her fists. “So what now? You get your happy ending. You get Achilles,” _

_ “This is far from a happy ending,” _

_ “For me!” Silena wanted to scream. Then she realised no one else was there and picked up the volume, just because she could. “This is far from a happy ending for ME! For you, you get EVERYTHING you ever wanted! Because all you really wanted was Achilles. Right?” _

_ Patroclus stared at her with a mixture between pity and sorrow. Silena hated it with everything she had in her. _

_ “I’m sorry,” _

_ Wait. “What?” _

_ “I apologise,” Patroclus repeated. “My… intention was never to harm you. After all, we are inevitably the same person,” _

_ “Then why did you do this!” Silena exclaimed. “Why mentally torture me? Because it was fun!” _

_ “Because I just wanted happiness, I just wanted to be with Achilles, because…” Patroclus looked down in shame. “Because I was afraid. Of losing him again,” _

_ “Well, Beckendor-wait again?” _

_ “Yes again,” He chuckled bitterly. “Of course you don’t remember everything. Not even I wanted to share those years. No matter how they could’ve convinced you,” _

_ “But you were the one to die first,” _

_ “Yes,” He nodded. “But I was never buried properly. I might’ve had a warriors funeral, I might’ve had my ashes mixed with Achilles. But his son,  _ _ Neoptolemus, demanded that a warrior such as Achilles should not have his gravestone be tainted by-by-,” _

_ “By you,” _

_ “Yes. By me. So I became a ghost. Cursed to stay by my grave. Unmarked and unnamed,” _

_ “How did you get to the underworld then?” _

_ “Achilles’s mother,” Patroclus didn’t say any more of the subject. Only continued to stare at Silena sadly. “So I’m sorry, but I did not want to be separated again,” _

_ She… didn’t know how to respond. _

_ So she sat on the grass. And gestured for Patroclus to do the same, who gladly did so. _

_ She knew this was a memory, but she didn’t want to leave. As the wind was in her hair and the dirt felt real. Like she’d just come back from catching fireflies with Lee back in her hometown. _

_ “You’re going to need to fight,” _

_ Silena flinched. She knew she should. She knew it. Even Leo was continuing to fight after what had happened. _

_ “I know it’s hard,” Patroclus continued. “I know… you should be given the option to be ready in your own time. But we’re practically uninjured. We need to fight,” _

_ “Why?” Silena said. “Why do you even care about what we’re fighting for,” _

_ “I don’t care about Olympus, and I don’t care for the gods,” Patroclus admitted. “They have meddled in more lives then I care to count, but they’ve especially meddled in mine. No. The reason why we have to fight is because if we lose. What would that mean? If we lose, Beckendorf's death would only be the first of many more to come,” _

_ She flinched again. _

_ “I’m sorry,” Patroclus continued. “I know you should be given a choice. And I know it’s unfair. But we have to fight for the people we love. And for the people we could lose,” _

_ “I-I don’t-,” _

_ “Silena please,” He paused. “We’re going to die again. We should die for a cause, instead of sitting and watching the gods fall,” _

_ Silena gulped and looked down at her hands. She was nervous. Honestly she’d probably die. But it didn’t matter at the moment. She needed to stand up and fight. _

_ She could mourn after the battle. _

_ Silena closed her eyes. _

And opened them again.

She grabbed her sword and joined a few campers inside the elevator going down.

0-0-0

Will Solace was fighting.

He’d run out of ammo a while ago, so now he was resorting to using a sword like the rest of the demigods, even if he had a higher chance to die while using it.

The main fighters had arrived. You know the ones, Grover, Annabeth, Percy, Thalia and Will’s dearly detested rival Bianca di Angelo.

It still wasn’t going to be enough.

They were running out of time and they weren’t going to  _ make it _ .

Percy and Annabeth were trying to fight Kronos and it wasn’t working. No matter how strong Percy was with his new iron skin it still wasn’t going to work.

Will slashed at another monster, he couldn’t even see what one it was all he was able to see was the golden dust that exploded afterward.

Then everything changed.

As a dog's howl pierced the air somewhere behind the Titan's army.

“No way,” Will whispered.

Bianca, who was now standing beside him, seemed to bubble with excitement. “Nico,”

Will stood on his toes, trying to see over the monsters. The enemy forces stirred uneasily. Then the strangest thing happened. They began to part, clearing a path through the street like something behind them was forcing them to.

Soon there was a free aisle down the center of Fifth Avenue. Standing at the end of the block was Bianca’s giant dog, and a small figure in black armor.

"ROWWF!" Mrs. O'Leary bounded toward Bianca, ignoring the growling monsters on either side. Nico strode forward. The enemy army fell back before him like he radiated death, which of course he did.

He looked awesome.

Through the face guard of his skull-shaped helmet, he smiled (nearly knocking Will dead with infatuation alone). "Got your message. Is it too late to join the party?"

Oh. Oh my  _ gods _ .

"Your death," Nico said, "would be great for me." 

"I'm immortal, you fool! I have escaped Tartarus. You have no business here, and no chance to live." 

Nico drew his sword—three feet of wicked sharp Stygian iron, black as a nightmare. "I don't agree."

The ground rumbled. Cracks appeared on the road, the sidewalks, the sides of the buildings. Skeletal hands grasped the air as the dead clawed their way into the world of the living. There were thousands of them, and as they emerged, the Titan's monsters got jumpy and started to back up.

"HOLD YOUR GROUND!" Kronos demanded. "The dead are no match for us." 

“Wait,” Bianca’s voice cut in through the solid atmosphere of fear. “Dad?”

The sky turned dark and cold. Shadows thickened. A harsh war horn sounded, and as the dead soldiers formed up ranks with their guns and swords and spears, an enormous chariot roared down Fifth Avenue. It came to a stop next to Nico. The horses were living shadows, fashioned from darkness. The chariot was inlaid with obsidian and gold, decorated with scenes of painful death. Holding the reins was Hades himself, Lord of the Dead, with Persephone at his side and Demeter riding behind him.

Hades wore black armor and a cloak the color of fresh blood. On top of his pale head was the helm of darkness: a crown that radiated pure terror. It changed shape as Will watched—from a dragon's head to a circle of black flames to a wreath of human bones. The scariest part though, was that it practically reached into his mind, igniting Will’s worst nightmares.

The enemy army also seemed to be feeling the same way, the only reason they didn’t retreat was because Kronos’s authority rivaled his son’s.

That didn’t mean that Demeter or Persephone were by any means weak or unintimidating. Demeter was dressed in her unforgiving and cold winter outfit. As the goddess of the seasons, while she was mainly associated with Summer, that did not mean she had no control over the other seasons.

She made the chilly atmosphere of death five times worse, as ice seemed to gather at her feat. Frosty and freezing a few monsters in place.

Literally.

The thing that Will noticed last about the season's goddess was her weapon. It was not a sword or spear or even a bow. No, her weapon was two gauntlets, radiating it’s own fury and damage that no weapon should ever remember.

Peresephone could barely even be realized as a spring goddess. Her blonde hair and blue eyes were the only light colours, as the rest of her outfit was either a pure black, or the bloody red eaves that lay in her hair.

She wasn’t wearing a helmet so her hair laid flowing in the wind, sometimes covering the murderous, and blood ready expression on her face.

Hades smiled coldly. "Hello, Father. You're looking . . . young." 

"Hades," Kronos growled. "I hope you and the ladies have come to pledge your allegiance."

"I'm afraid not." Hades sighed. "My children here convinced me that perhaps I should prioritize my list of enemies." He glanced at Percy with distaste. "As much as I dislike certain upstart demigods, it would not do for Olympus to fall. I would miss bickering with my siblings. And if there is one thing we agree on—it is that you were a TERRIBLE father."

“True," said Demeter. "It has been too long since I’ve punched you in the face."

Hades seemed to smile as if lost inside a happy memory. Then he drew his sword, a double-edged Stygian blade etched with silver. "Now fight me! For today the House of Hades will be called the saviors of Olympus."

“I don't have time for this," Kronos snarled. He struck the ground with his scythe. A crack spread in both directions, circling the Empire State Building. A wall of force shimmered along the fissure line, separating Kronos's vanguard, and the half bloods from the bulk of the two armies.

"What's he doing?" Bianca muttered. 

"Sealing us in," Thalia said. "He's collapsing the magic barriers around Manhattan—cutting off just the building, and us." 

Sure enough, outside the barrier, car engines revved to life. Pedestrians woke up and stared uncomprehendingly at the monsters and zombies all around them. No telling what they saw through the Mist, but I'm sure it was plenty scary. Car doors opened. And at the end of the block, Paul Blofis and Percy’s mom got out of their Prius.

Now, look. Will had never met Percy’s mother before. He’d heard stories of how good of a mother she was but he had never seen her. Though he knew who she was the moment Will noticed Percy’s and Bianca’s expressions.

Both of them were shaking in their boots with worry.

Fortunately, Hades caused a distraction. He charged at the wall of force, but his chariot crashed against it and overturned. He got to his feet, cursing, and blasted the wall with black energy. The barrier held.

"ATTACK!" he roared.

The armies of the dead clashed with the Titan's monsters. Fifth Avenue exploded into absolute chaos. Mortals screamed and ran for cover. Demeter waved her hand and an entire column of giants froze over. Persephone changed the dracaenae's spears into different flowers that packed enough poison to kill them on the spot. Nico slashed and hacked his way through the enemy, trying to protect the pedestrians as best he could. Percy's parents ran toward him, dodging monsters and zombies.

"Nakamura," Kronos said. "Attend me. Giants—deal with them." He pointed at Will’s friends. Then he ducked into the lobby.

Most of the monsters focused on Percy and his gang (which Will was not a part of, luckily) but that didn’t mean Will himself wasn’t attacked. He found himself chopping and slicing at multiple monsters, mostly Hyperborean giants.

Will glanced outside the magic barrier. Nico was fighting.

More accurately, he was fighting well. Slashing and stabbing his way through the entirety of Kronos’s army as if it was nothing. Trying to make his way towards Percy’s parents.

Will started making his way over too. Going for a meet in the middle situation.

That's when things went bad.

A Laistrygonian giant charged toward Mrs. Jackson. She was rummaging around in an abandoned police car—maybe looking for the emergency radio—and her back was turned.

"Mom!" Percy yelled from behind Will. Right as Bianca yelled Sally.

She whirled when the monster was almost on top of her. Will thought the thing in her hands was an umbrella until she cranked the pump and the shotgun blast blew the giant twenty feet backward, right into Nico's sword.

First thing Will felt.

Stupid.

He’d forgotten to check the police cars like a  _ dumbass _ .

Next was sheer awe.

Because that had been amazing.

"Nice one," Will said as he came up to the crew. Smiling at Nico, as the boy slashed another monster. Nico smiled back, though far shier.

"When did you learn to fire a shotgun?" Percy demanded. 

His mom blew the hair out of her face. "About two seconds ago. Percy, we'll be fine. Go!" 

"Yeah," Nico agreed, "we'll handle the army. You have to get Kronos!"

“Nico-,” Bianca tried to speak.

“Bianca just go!” Nico yelled as if it were an order. “We got this,”

Bianca didn’t seem to like it. Will wondered whether it was from a lack of trust or just an urge to protect but she didn’t want to leave. Noticing Percy’s look though Bianca straightened.

She then looked over at the rubble.

"Mrs. O'Leary," Bianca said. "Please, Chiron's under there. If anyone can dig him out, you can. Find him! Help him!"

Will was not sure how much she understood, but she bounded to the pile and started to dig. Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, Percy and Bianca raced for the elevators.

It took Will slashing down three more monsters to realise it but…

He could die.

This could be it, he could die.

He had wanted to speak and say how he felt to Nico for  _ so  _ long now. But this was it. There was literally nothing left to lose because they were probably going to die anyway.

Well. Now or never.

“Thanks for coming, even if it was last minute,” Will said earnestly. Nico must have not been excepting the compliment, because at first he thought it was a sarcastic comment.

“You’re welcome,”

“Hey Nico?”

“Yeah?”

“We could die, this could be it,” Will slashed through an empousa trying to bite Nico’s neck. The two boys met eyes for a split second.

“We won’t,”

“How do you know?”

“Because I won’t let it happen,” There was so much determination in his voice, along with more emotions than Will could even explain. He was fighting with a fierce that rivalled Leo and Percy themselves.

He was here. And he was now.

He could.

He  _ should. _

So he would.

“Nico!” Will gained the boys attention again. He’d obviously gone insane because instead of being nervous, Will was grinning like a madman. “Will you go out with me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment! I don't mind anything! From predictions to just simple sentences!  
> Also, Will and Nico! Yay! I hope I did the scene justice. Like, I don't hate the ship but I personally enjoy a different one for Nico, so just hope that didn't affect my writing.


	16. Already decided

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Defeating a Titan

Nico froze.

Just straight up, stood still frozen. The only thing that kept him from dying right then and there was Will. Slashing through several monsters.

Nico couldn’t process.

Sure, he’d imagined and maybe even hoped that Will would ask him out. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought it would be in the middle of a battlefield.

Did he mishear? Was he so tired that he’s imagining things?

Then he snapped out of it.

“WHAT?!”

“Is that a no or a yes?” Will had a small expression of worry on his face which, no, Will didn’t get worried. What was happening?!

“Am I dreaming?” He asked stupidly. “Wait you’re serious?”

“Of course I’m serious!”

“Me!” Nico stabbed a monster. Sounding incredulous. “You want to… you want… you want _me_?!”

“I already said that!”

“But I’m a child of Hades!” Nico screamed. “I might as well be covered in sewerage-,”

“DUCK!”

Nico ducked automatically as a shotgun blast sailed over his head and into an incoming monster.

“You’re my friend Nico!” Will continued. “You were already my friend before this! Why is it so hard for you to believe somebody wants to go out with you!”

“Because I’m an asshole! I’m a disappointment and if it weren’t for Bianca I’d be a bigger outcast then I already am-,”

“Are we even talking about the same person?!” Will stated. “You’re kind and sure, a little creepy, but you understand. You’ve helped so many people deal with losses and grieving, you help instruct the newbies with sword fighting and you never stop caring about the people close to you,”

Nico gaped and blushed.

“So I’ll ask again Nico,” Will took in a breath and let it out. “Will you go out with me?”

Alright. Fuck.

Nico hasn’t been focusing on getting a boyfriend any time soon but damn if he wasn’t excited enough to say yes.

(He could worry about the details after they survived)

0-0-0

The bridge to Olympus was dissolving.

Bianca stepped out of the elevator onto the white marble walkway, and immediately cracks appeared at her feet.

"Jump!" Grover said, which was easy for him since he's part mountain goat. He sprang to the next slab of stone while Bianca felt the ground below her tilt sickeningly. 

"Gods, I hate heights!" Thalia yelled as she and Percy leaped. 

Bianca helped Annabeth, as she was in no condition to jump alone, by grabbing the other girls hand and tugging her into a leap.

They weren’t going to make it.

Luckily for them, Percy noticed and grabbed onto Bianca’s other hand and with the help of Grover and Thalia, dragged the two away from falling.

“Thanks,” Bianca mumbled.

"Keep moving!" Grover tugged Percy’s shoulder. They untangled and sprinted across the sky bridge as more stones disintegrated and fell into oblivion. They made it to the edge of the mountain just as the final section collapsed. 

Annabeth looked back at the elevator, which was now completely out of reach—a polished set of metal doors hanging in space, attached to nothing, six hundred stories above Manhattan.

"We're marooned," she said. "On our own." 

"Blah-ha-ha!" Grover said. "The connection between Olympus and America is dissolving. If it fails-, " 

"The gods won't move on to another country this time," Thalia said. "This will be the end of Olympus. The final end." 

Bianca ran through the streets. Mansions were burning. Statues had been hacked down. Trees in the parks were blasted to splinters. It looked like someone had attacked the city with a giant Weedwacker. 

"Kronos's scythe," Percy said. 

Bianca shuddered at the mention of that weapon.

They followed the winding path toward the palace of the gods.

She didn't remember the road being so long. Maybe Kronos was making time go slower, or maybe it was just dread slowing her down. The whole mountaintop was in ruins—so many beautiful buildings and gardens gone. A few minor gods and nature spirits had tried to stop Kronos. 

What remained of them was strewn about the road: shattered armor, ripped clothing, swords and spears broken in half. 

Somewhere ahead of Bianca, Kronos's voice roared: "Brick by brick! That was my promise. Tear it down BRICK BY BRICK!"

A white marble temple with a gold dome suddenly exploded. The dome shot up like the lid of a teapot and shattered into a billion pieces, raining rubble over the city. 

"That was a shrine to Artemis," Thalia grumbled. 

"He'll pay for that." Bianca promised.

They were running under the marble archway with the huge statues of Zeus and Hera when the entire mountain groaned, rocking sideways like a boat in a storm.

"Look out!" Grover yelped. 

The archway crumbled. Bianca looked up in time to see a twenty-ton scowling Hera topple over, aimed straight for Annabeth and Percy.

She moved faster than she could think.

Fun fact: Bianca didn’t like being crushed. So when a statue of Hera landed on her legs, trapping her in place and breaking the bones, she tried to immediately get out.

“Shit,” Bianca groaned in pain as her friends tried to move the statue. “Fuck, wait,”

"It's Hera," Annabeth said in outrage. "She's had it in for me all year. Her statue would've killed me if you hadn't pushed us away." 

Bianca grimaced. She wasn’t going to get out of this.

That was _not_ okay.

"Bianca we have to go," Thalia said. “We’ll be back,”

“Waitwait!” She practically cried. “I need to be there, I need-,”

“Bianca!” Percy was the one to yell. He didn’t look like he liked the situation but he knew what was needed. “I’ll make the right choice, I promise,”

Bianca still continued to panic. She didn’t want to let the world end because of a stupid rock.

“No you don’t!” Bianca yelled. “I need to be there!”

“I know what to do,” Percy yelled right back, frustration in his eyes. “Trust me!”

Bianca-she couldn’t-she-

Except Percy knew. She’d never wanted him to know. Never. Not anyone.

(Sometimes it made her wonder how many secrets she would have shared if it wasn’t necessary for them to know?)

She realised. All at once. That she wasn’t going to get out of this.

“Fuck,” She swore. “Alright, go, I’ll be fine,”

Percy looked as though he was imagining things. “You-,”

“Go!” She shouted, waving the four of them off. Percy gave one last look at a struggling Bianca before he broke into a sprint.

She hoped she could trust him.

She really, really did.

0-0-0

Leo wasn’t dumb.

He knew that Beckendorf had to have been chosen for a reason.

Specifically to antagonise Silena.

But _why?_

Why go to all that trouble? What for? It was a public execution. If he wanted her hurt for some reason he could’ve just killed Beckendorf back at their camp. Except he didn’t want to just hurt her.

He wanted to break her.

Make her watch. Make her an _example_.

As if to say ‘these are the consequences for failing me,’ to everyone who served him. But _why?_ **_Why?_ **

Leo killed another monster. He vaguely knew things were happening. The Cyclops, led by Tyson, were helping to destroy Typhon and bring him down to Tartarus. Silena and Clarisse were a double sided sword, you try to sneak up on one only to be chopped up by another. Nico was still leading the dead, but now there was Will behind him.

Piper was there too. Right by his side.

Leo had a lot of questions. He wanted to ask Bianca, he wanted to ask Silena and he needed to ask _Annabeth_.

Percy led, Bianca gathered and Annabeth planned.

How did this happen?

He needed to know. He needed to know who to _blame_. He knew it was his fault, but he couldn’t-he couldn’t keep thinking that way he needed someone to yell at.

He kept shooting out fire.

Forcing his hands to stop shaking because if h _e mis_ **_sed-_ **

He didn’t want to think.

0-0-0

_Two blades. Both cursed by the false promises from men, slashed onto women when they least expect it. Still young and naive enough to trust the wide smile with big eyes._

_Perseus Jackson is meant to succeed._

_The only one meant to succeed._

_Thalia Grace is powerful. She is trained to see something bigger and stronger and, instead of running, to fight it._

_And to win. To always win. Except this is a battle she can’t fight. It isn’t loud, it holds no glory. It is a battle in the head, worked between the lying man and the devil who controls the strings. She’d fight a statue, only to realise it was stone once it crumbled._

_She would not succeed._

_Nico is reclusive. He is trained for silence and is always alone in a fight unless with intervention from others._

_His instinct of self isolation that is cursed to him is the downfall. He listens to the whispers in his ears and the doubts that plague his mind. Either too naive to turn away or too blind with loss to hear another solution._

_He would not succeed._

_Bianca was the only one to truly rival Perseus._

_Loyal to the right people, able to lead an army, and with a reputation she never truly wants to accept but fully uses to her advantage._

_The two are almost one in the same._

_Except she can’t truly trust. She can’t trust people to fight her battles for her, or even for them to choose their own choices. They have to wait for her approval in every task they do._

_She thinks that her opinion is infallible. That it is fact._

_It is not._

_Even now. With the future already seen to her, she’d make the wrong choice. The thought of anything less than a sword killing Kronos never once crossing her mind._

_Perseus Jackson trusts._

_And in the end that is enough._

0-0-0

Bianca limped into the throne room.

She had been freed by the cyclopes, now walking around on crutches. She scanned the room, noting how everyone was alive, Thalia, Grover, Annabeth and Percy. They were all alive.

Then she realised who wasn’t.

Luke, and Ethan.

She never particularly cared for the two. She never wanted to save them. Ethan hadn’t caught her eye particularly and Luke… she’d never seen anything good in him. She wasn’t Percy or Annabeth, she didn’t see the good in him. Still she walked over to the body, slower than usual due to the injury.

Bianca had three women she needed to talk to.

The Fates themselves carried off Luke’s body, a body that radiated a blessing from Hermes.

(It was weird though, seeing the body like that. Luke’s soul had always been radiating such _anger_ all the time that even just seeing it dead and at peace was disconcerting)

Bianca came right up to the three Fates side. “Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos. Nice to see you out of my dreams,”

“Stay respectful,” Clotho reminded. “We’re in public here,”

“I have questions about Percy-!”

“He had to know, he probably wouldn't have succeeded without the visions. Thalia would've taken over the situation otherwise and you weren't giving the necessary information” Atropos said. Bianca glanced at the huntress for a quick second before settling to look back at the fate. “Oh, and another thing, you're allowed to tell certain people about the _other time_ , but you better chose the right people,”

Bianca blinked. “Wait-,”

“We have to get the body prepared, talk to your therapist about the other time and use your break while you can.” Lachesis finished the conversation. “See you at the party,”

“What-?”

They disappeared into thin air. Great.

Bianca sighed.

Now she could talk to people about the alternate timeline, cool great. Who wanted to know about the fact that some people had died inside a different timeline. (Except that Percy knew already... that would be a thought for another time).

Nico di Angelo came into Olympus to a hero's welcome, their father right behind him, despite the fact that Hades was only supposed to visit Olympus on winter solstice. The god of the dead looked stunned when his relatives clapped him on the back. Bianca doubted he'd ever gotten such an enthusiastic welcome before.

She limped over, when Nico saw her he rushed forward hugging her. Bianca hugged back just as tight.

“You were amazing,” She whispered into his ear. “I’m so proud of you,”

She was. So proud of all of her family.

Nico melted into the embrace, he might've gotten a lot of positive reinforcment from his sister but he could admit every single time he got it made him feel a little bit lighter. (Now. How to tell her about his boyfriend...)

Eventually Bianca let go and hobbled over to her family, to her dad specifically.

“Father,”

Her father, still dressed in full battle gear, turned to her.

“Thank you,” She smiled. He wasn’t entirely forgiven, far from it, but it was a step in the right direction.

Their parent reunion suddenly got overshadowed when Silena and her cabin came into the throneroom. Clarisse was right by her side, but she was pushed away when Aphrodite came down, as if floating like a majestic dove, to hug all of her children.

“You all were absolutely stunning!” She praised. Looking over at all of her children, each one of them preening at the affection. Silena ducked out though, moving to go to Clarrise (the two were practically inseparable now), and…

“Amore,” Bianca hobbled over to her girlfriend. Piper saw her, rushed over and practically scooped her up, Bianca laughed a bit as she got twirled around, Piper laughed right back and kissed her neck gingerly. “Stop it! We’re in public!”

Piper flushed a bit, but still kissed her on the lips. Bianca kissed right back.

(Aphrodite locked eyes with Hades and winked. Hades, who really only had connections to the goddess through the Adonis incident, hoped Piper was worth the risk)

Leo was the next to come into the room.

Bianca could see the proud twinkle in Hephaestus’s eye, but the real surprise was when Hera came up to Leo, towering over him, and smirking as if she’d achieved a personal victory. Leo looked at her and squinted, like he was trying to remember something.

“... Tia Callida?” Leo asked. Then his eyes widened. “Oh my Gods! It’s you!”

Hera scowled. “Keep quiet about that, or else I’m afraid I’ll have to _make_ you stay silent,”

Leo snapped his jaw shut with an audible clack. Bianca narrowed her eyes, she’d check that out later.

Gods talked to their children, Annabeth passed out and got healed by Apollo, Percy got hugged by her father (One day, one day she’d get one from her dad too) and Zeus called the Gods to sit down.

Even her father, who got his own special guest chair along with Hestia.

Bianca half wanted to sit with Piper and Leo, but eventually she settled for sitting by Nico underneath her fathers chair.

Zeus seemed to have no trouble thanking his sisters, Hestia (who smiled kindly), Demeter (who preened a bit), and Hera (Ew).

"As for my brothers," Zeus said, "we are thankful"-he cleared his throat like the words were hard to get out-"erm, thankful for the aid of Hades." 

Hades dead nodded. He had a smug look on his face, but Bianca figured he'd earned the right. He patted Nico on the shoulders, and Nico looked happier than she’d ever seen him. 

"And, of course," Zeus continued, though he looked like his pants were smoldering, "we must . . . um . . . thank Poseidon."

"I'm sorry, brother," Poseidon said. "What was that?" 

"We must thank Poseidon," Zeus growled. "Without whom . . . it would've been difficult-,"

"Difficult?" Poseidon asked innocently. 

"Impossible," Zeus said. "Impossible to defeat Typhon." 

The gods murmured agreement and pounded their weapons in approval. 

"Which leaves us," Zeus said, "only the matter of thanking our young demigod heroes, who defended Olympus so well—even if there are a few dents in my throne."

He called Thalia forward first, since she was his daughter, and promised her help in filling the Hunters' ranks.

Artemis smiled. "You have done well, my lieutenant. You have made me proud, and all those Hunters who perished in my service will never be forgotten. They will achieve Elysium, I am sure." 

She glared pointedly at Hades. He shrugged. "Probably." 

Artemis glared at him some more. Bianca nudging his foot for good measure.

"Okay," Hades grumbled. "I'll streamline their application process."

Thalia beamed with pride. "Thank you, my lady." She bowed to the gods, even Hades, and then limped over to stand by Artemis's side. 

"Tyson, son of Poseidon!" Zeus called. Tyson looked nervous, but he went to stand in the middle of the Council, and Zeus grunted. 

"Doesn't miss many meals, does he?" Zeus muttered. "Tyson, for your bravery in the war, and for leading the Cyclopes, you are appointed a general in the armies of Olympus. You shall henceforth lead your brethren into war whenever required by the gods. And you shall have a new . . . um . . . what kind of weapon would you like? A sword? An axe?" 

"Stick!" Tyson said, showing his broken club. 

"Very well," Zeus said. "We will grant you a new, er, stick. The best stick that may be found."

"Hooray!" Tyson cried, and all the Cyclopes cheered and pounded him on the back as he rejoined them.

"Grover Underwood of the satyrs!" Dionysus called. Grover came forward nervously. 

"Oh, stop chewing your shirt," Dionysus chided. "Honestly, I'm not going to blast you. For your bravery and sacrifice, blah, blah, blah, and since we have an unfortunate vacancy, the gods have seen fit to name you a member of the Council of Cloven Elders." 

Grover collapsed on the spot. 

"Oh, wonderful," Dionysus sighed, as several naiads came forward to help Grover. "Well, when he wakes up, someone tell him that he will no longer be an outcast, and that all satyrs, naiads, and other spirits of nature will henceforth treat him as a lord of the Wild, with all rights, privileges, and honors, blah, blah, blah. Now please, drag him off before he wakes up and starts groveling." 

"FOOOOOD," Grover moaned, as the nature spirits carried him away.

Bianca figured he'd be okay. He would wake up as a lord of the Wild with a bunch of beautiful naiads taking care of him. Life could be worse.

Athena called, "Annabeth Chase, my own daughter." 

Annabeth squeezed Percy’s arm, then walked forward and knelt at her mother's feet.

Athena smiled. "You, my daughter, have exceeded all expectations. You have used your wits, your strength, and your courage to defend this city, and our seat of power. It has come to our attention that Olympus is . . . well, trashed. The Titan lord did much damage that will have to be repaired. We could rebuild it by magic, of course, and make it just as it was. But the gods feel that the city could be improved. We will take this as an opportunity. And you, my daughter, will design these improvements." 

Annabeth looked up, stunned. "My . . . my lady?" 

Athena smiled wryly. "You are an architect, are you not? You have studied the techniques of Daedalus himself. Who better to redesign Olympus and make it a monument that will last for another eon?" 

"You mean . . . I can design whatever I want?" 

"As your heart desires," the goddess said. "Make us a city for the ages." 

"As long as you have plenty of statues of me," Apollo added. 

"And me," Aphrodite agreed. 

"Hey, and me!" Ares said. "Big statues with huge wicked swords and—" 

"All right!" Athena interrupted. "She gets the point. Rise, my daughter, official architect of Olympus." 

Annabeth rose in a trance and walked back toward Percy.

Poseidon seemed to be rising himself up to shout (and Bianca was pretty sure who for) but before that could happen, a certain quiet goddess cut in.

“Actually,” Hestia’s voice was firm, but not unkind. “I have a demigod I wish to reward,”

She looked to her younger brothers for permission. Both of which waved their hands in approval. Hestia looked out, not to the crowd, but toward Bianca.

“Bianca di Angelo, daughter of Hades,”

Most of the gods looked at Hestia in shock, some ranging from disgusted (Hera) to pleasantly surprised (Artemis) but all of them had some surprise in them.

Bianca obediently left her fathers side and kneeled before the goddess of the Hearth.

“What do you wish for, child?” Hestia asked.

“If I may request…” Bianca looked up. “I wish for a cabin at Camp for my brother and myself,”

She might have been side eyeing Dionysus, just a bit, as last summer he’d declined her commission to have a cabin of her own. The God rolled his eyes. “Fine, Bianza, you get your stinking cabin,”

Bianca walked back to her brother, fist pumping to herself. Fucking finally. Like, she loved the Artemis cabin with all her heart but no. No she was not staying there for the rest of her years.

"PERCY JACKSON!" Poseidon announced. His name echoed around the chamber. All talking died down. The room was silent except for the crackle of the hearth fire. Everyone's eyes were on Percy—all the gods, the demigods, the Cyclopes, the spirits.

Percy walked into the middle of the throne room.

First he bowed to Zeus. Then he knelt at his father's feet. 

"Rise, my son," Poseidon said. Percy stood uneasily. "A great hero must be rewarded, is there anyone here who would deny that my son is deserving?"

Bianca waited for someone to pipe up. The gods never agreed on anything, and many of them still didn't like Percy, but not a single one protested.

"The Council agrees," Zeus said. "Percy Jackson, you will have one gift from the gods." 

Percy hesitated. 

"Any gift?" Zeus nodded grimly. "I know what you will ask. The greatest gift of all. Yes, if you want it, it shall be yours. The gods have not bestowed this gift on a mortal hero in many centuries, but, Perseus Jackson—if you wish it—you shall be made a god. Immortal. Undying. You shall serve as your father's lieutenant for all time." 

"Um... a god?"

A _GOD_?!?!

Bianca paled. So did Nico. And so did Hades (though she suspected for an entirely different reason). She wanted to shout and scream no, to take Percy away from the choice and to drag him back to Camp Half Blood, or maybe even back to the apartment.

Instead. She seemed to lose her voice.

She felt like an overbearing parent so often, that it was sometimes hard to remember her friends weren’t children.

Zeus rolled his eyes. "A dimwitted god, apparently. But yes. With the consensus of the entire Council, I can make you immortal. Then I will have to put up with you forever."

"Hmm," Ares mused. "That means I can smash him to a pulp as often as I want, and he'll just keep coming back for more. I like this idea." 

"I approve as well," Athena said.

The other gods voiced their approval and just… Bianca…

Her hands were shaking but she just couldn’t _speak up_.

‘C’mon Bianca,’ She thought. ‘You have to speak up. NOW-,’

Except she couldn’t.

So she waited for Percy’s answer.

"No," Percy said. The Council was silent. The gods frowned at each other like they must have misheard. Bianca desperately hoped she hadn’t misheard herself.

"No?" Zeus said. "You are . . . turning down our generous gift?" 

There was a dangerous edge to his voice, like a thunderstorm about to erupt. 

"I'm honored and everything," Percy said. "Don't get me wrong. It's just . . . I've got a lot of life left to live. I'd hate to peak in my sophomore year." 

Bianca laughed, a small one but still a laugh nonetheless

"I do want a gift, though," Percy said. "Do you promise to grant my wish?"

Zeus thought about this. "If it is within our power." 

"It is," He said. "And it's not even difficult. But I need your promise on the River Styx." 

"What?" Dionysus cried. "You don't trust us?" 

"Someone once told me," Percy said, looking at Hades, "you should always get a solemn oath."

Bianca and Nico snorted as Hades shrugged. "Guilty." 

"Very well!" Zeus growled. "In the name of the Council, we swear by the River Styx to grant your reasonable request as long as it is within our power." 

The other gods muttered assent. Thunder boomed, shaking the throne room. The deal was made. "From now on, I want to you properly recognize the children of the gods. All the children . . . of all the gods."

Bianca raised an eyebrow, she liked this much better already.

The Olympians shifted uncomfortably. 

"Percy," Poseidon said, "what exactly do you mean?" 

"Kronos couldn't have risen if it hadn't been for a lot of demigods who felt abandoned by their parents," Percy said. "They felt angry, resentful, and unloved, and they had a good reason."

Zeus's royal nostrils flared. "You dare accuse-," 

"No more undetermined children," he said. "I want you to promise to claim your children—all your demigod children—by the time they turn thirteen. They won't be left out in the world on their own at the mercy of monsters. I want them claimed and brought to camp so they can be trained right, and survive." 

"Now, wait just a moment," Apollo said, but Percy was on a roll. 

"And the minor gods," he said. "Nemesis, Hecate, Morpheus, Janus, Hebe-—they all deserve a general amnesty and a place at Camp Half-Blood. Their children shouldn't be ignored. No unclaimed demigods will be crammed into the Hermes cabin anymore, wondering who their parents are. They'll have their own cabins, for all the gods. And no more pact of the Big Three. That didn't work anyway. You've got to stop trying to get rid of powerful demigods. We're going to train them and accept them instead. All children of the gods will be welcome and treated with respect. That is my wish." 

Zeus snorted. "Is that all?" 

"Percy," Poseidon said, "you ask much. You presume much."

"I hold you to your oath," Percy said. "All of you." 

He got a lot of steely looks. Strangely, it was Athena who spoke up: "The boy is correct. We have been unwise to ignore our children. It proved a strategic weakness in this war and almost caused our destruction. Perseus Jackson, I have had my doubts about you, but perhaps"—she glanced at Annabeth, and then spoke as if the words had a sour taste—"perhaps I was mistaken. I move that we accept the boy's plan." 

"Humph," Zeus said. "Being told what to do by a mere child. But I suppose . . ." 

"All in favor," Hermes said. All the gods raised their hands. 

"Um, thanks," Percy said. 

He turned, but before he could leave, Poseidon called, "Honor guard!" Immediately the Cyclopes came forward and made two lines from the thrones to the door—an aisle for Percy to walk through. They came to attention. "All hail, Perseus Jackson," Tyson said. "Hero of Olympus . . . and my big brother!”

0-0-0

Annabeth couldn’t make it out of the throne room before she was ambushed by Leo.

Not attack ambush, just ‘you aren’t going anywhere until I have answers,’ kind of ambush. One she certainly wasn’t prepared for from Leo.

They were inside one of the side rooms, modeled after Victorian English which honestly? Annabeth decided she’d have to change once she really started to get to work on Olympus.

(She still couldn’t believe she was the architect, the official architect of Olympus!)

“You were in charge of everything,” Was the first thing out of Leo’s mouth. “Tell me why my brother got executed,”

“Leo,” Annabeth immediately knew how serious the situation was.

“No, don’t give me that patronising voice!” Leo was mad. He looked so undoubtedly mad and in grief, and she couldn’t blame him. “My brother's death was staged like a show! An example! WHY?!”

“Leo, you’re burning,”

The fury left for a few moments as Leo willed away his flames. Obviously trying to calm down.

“I don’t know if I can explain everything-BUT-,” Annabeth cut in before Leo could interrupt. “I’ll try,”

He nodded. Listening intently.

Annabeth knew she should probably wait to tell Leo, but she was not in the right enough mind to hold it off. So she explained.

Explained everything that led up to Beckendorf’s death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. It will take longer for me to update. School started again recently and no matter how much I want to I'll have to sort my priorities. But thank you for reading and I can't wait to see you next time (no matter how far away next time may be).
> 
> Edit: Okay so like, quick question to anyone who wants to answer, when I put out the rewrite of book three what should I do with the original one? Because it's different enough that I can't just replace the words. Should I delete it? Remove it from the series but keep the book? Or just put it at the end of the series with a note saying 'this is the original version for anyone who wants to read it


	17. Flames of the pyre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greif can rip things apart at a level unimaginable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I forgot to add some warnings earlier since I was rushing to post this: Self deprecating language, swearing (lots), blaming of oneself and others. I don't really know what else to warn against but this ending can be sad!

Annabeth was having a hard time running after Leo.

_(“Silena and Lee were the ones to tell me, surprisingly not Bianca, but she did know,”)_

Ducking through members of the crowd, passing by and ignoring even Percy to try and catch up to Leo, though it seemed like he wasn’t going to stop. Not for no-one. Not until he’d found his target.

_(“Beckendorf knew as well. He knew what he was getting himself into. I thought I’d planned ahead well enough though. Turns out I was wrong,”)_

Fuck. She shouldn’t have said anything so soon. What was she _thinking_.

_(“Silena was a great liar, though once she saw she was saving lives she got prideful. Whether the fact Kronos knew or not didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was failing too much and that Beckendorf was the best way to remind her of her debt,”)_

Why did she have to tell Leo that Silena had been the spy.

0-0-0

Silena was alone with Clarisse again.

She was next to a small garden, probably made by Demeter because of how _orderly_ it was-none of the charm spring had, only the controlling order of agriculture-and it was just the two of them.

Silent and Clarisse.

_Achilles and Patroclus._

Part of her didn’t know what to say, whether to apologise for playing with Clarrises emotions or to… well, just stay silent.

It was times like these where she missed being a kid, just growing up in her hometown, not having to worry about monsters or gods, only who was going to swing the skipping rope and who was going to be able to jump.

Silent winced at the reminder of the gods. Meeting her mother was an experience. One she never wanted to do again.

(When… when you had the memories of what it was like in Ancient Greece. Especially to see first hand some of the most awful and destructive meddling that they get credit for… then it’s hard to think of them as the good guys)

So meeting her mother, the one for Silena not Patroclus, the fickle woman who had, for one of her worst crimes, single handedly started the Trojan war? Not fun.

Not like she was ever going to mention her thoughts. Her siblings had been enjoying the attention, no matter short it was, and Silena didn’t want to ruin it with her uncomfortable attitude.

So she’d scampered off, with Clarisse trailing behind her.

Silent.

Not saying a word.

“It’s only been a few days, hasn’t it?” Silena started, Clarisse looked up at her face. “ Since the fighting?”

“We’ve always been fighting,”

Wasn’t that the truth, but not what they meant. “Since the start of the battle of Manhattan,”

It had started and ended in a few days.

“Yeah,”

“Yeah,”

Both of them seemed to not know where to start.

Patroclus wasn’t pushing this time to speak, he’d already learnt not to push Silena anymore. It probably helped that they shared the same soul and memories. As he could _definitely_ tell how close to shattering Silena was.

She looked at Clarrise, who was staring at a daisy as if a tiny scroll with all the answers would pop out of it.

“You know I’m not just going to run into your arms and kiss you like a cheesy, badly written movie, right?” Silena said.

“I’m not an idiot, Silena, things don’t work like that in real life,”

Yeah. In fairytales after the war is won people get their feast and kiss and get the happily ever after.

This was a Greek story though. Happy endings are always few and far between.

And even then, is being a survivor really a happy ending. Yes, Odysseus came back home, but the rest of his crew died, he had to live with that. He had to live with war and torment, it’s only considered a happy ending because he has his wife and son.

“Real,” Silena murmured, repeating what Clarrise had last mentioned. Talking as though the word had triggered something. “Sometimes this doesn’t feel real… well most of the time really,”

Clarrise was staring at her, she’d been so quiet around her lately, as if she was just content being together, soaking up the atmosphere.

“Why?”

Silena huffed. “I’m on Olympus, I got celebrated as a hero instead of a sacrifice. I’m _alive_ this time,” she sombered quickly. “I always thought I’d be one of the ones to die. Didn’t want to think about it, tried not to but… well… I placed a call to my dad just in case, you know? Telling him how I loved him and-and wanted to say more but didn’t know what to say... I… Beckendorf… he… he was so sure he was going to get… to get through this. He was talking about college and me coming to… to see his mother… oh gods. Someone’s going to have to tell his mother what happened. I-I _can’t_ -,”

Clarisse put a hand over hers, obviously not used to calming someone down. _Achilles had never known what to do the times Patroclus had cried, he’d usually just panicked._ Clarisse on the other hand rubbed slow but soothing circles on Silena’s hand.

“I can make someone else tell her if you want me to,” Clarisse said firmly. “And it’s not like you could do anything to stop it, it wasn’t your fault,”

The dam had burst. Tears streamed down Silena’s cheeks and Clarisse immediately realised she had said the wrong thing. She didn’t try to shush Silena, only tugged the girl in closer

“It’s my fault!” Silena wailed out the truth. Not caring one but about how horrible or wrecked she looked. “It’s my fucking fault I should’ve-,”

“Don’t waste time on the should’ve or could’ve Silena,” Clarisse whispered, tightening her grip. “Trust me, it only makes you worse,”

“But it is my fault, if I hadn’t let my pride get the better of me than Beckendorf wouldn’t have been targeted,”

“You can’t save everyone, Silena,” Clarrise said gently. A tone of voice so rare she was sure no one else would ever hear it. “No matter how good you are, people die,”

“But I was the spy, this was targeted at _me_ -,”

The gate door banged open. Two people skidded inside.

Annabeth Chase. Face anxious and worried as if a fight would break loose. And Leo Valdez, who had a fury surrounding him that Silena knew, somehow, was aimed directly at her.

0-0-0

Bianca could still feel souls. Even if she had tried to suppress the power as much as possible she could still feel it.

So when she felt four souls **aching** she stopped halfway through her conversation with Piper and listened.

“Angel face? What’s wrong?”

She continued to focus, trying to understand why this hurt so much more than the thump of grief that had panged each soul. She focused.

Feeling and reaching

Breathe in, breathe out.

A snap and suddenly she realised how much-

How much-

_Screamhurtpainlossnononononoblameblame_ **_who_ ** _fallfall_ **_who_ ** _scythepainangerblameblamerageragerage_ **_rageHERRAGEHER_ ** _stopstopstopstopgobackstopithurtsblamemehermeherstoppainpleasepleasebackbackstopdontlosecontrolfirebadfaultfaultfaultfault_ **_againfaultYOU_ ** _her_ **_YOU_ ** _her_ **_YOU_ ** _screamscreamagainagainscreamagain_

**_Fire_ **

Oh.

Oh gods.

“Bianca-,”

“Piper I’m sorry but we-I-Leo he’s… blaming himself and I think he might be taking it out on someone and I just…”

“I’m coming too,”

“No!” Bianca said immediately. “It’s.. well… it’s a lot and any more people…”

_YourfaultyourfaultherYOURFAULTAGAINAGAINAGAINscreamfireWEAKfiremamabrotherfaultyoufaultyouSTOPSCREAMHER_

“What can I do to help then?” Piper asked. Trusting Bianca's judgement enough.

“Be ready to run in if it seems like someone’s going to kill someone,”

0-0-0

Annabeth wasn’t that good at absolving arguments. Especially not ones between Clarisse and Leo fucking Valdez.

She had hoped that all of Leo’s rage, pent up from self blame, had been blasted out at the drakon and other monsters.

She was wrong.

He seemed to be stuck in anger. Skipping denial in the five steps and bouncing straight into rage. An emotion so unlike him. He was either happy or sad most of the time, he’d never been angry, not like this… not back at camp.

(She knew Leo had already experienced death before, her suspicion phase of Bianca told her that much)

Leo’s voice was rough and bruised as he threw words (meaningless words yet somehow they formed more scars than swords) right at Silena. Blaming the girl for his brothers death. How Silena should’ve done things differently. How it was the girls arrogance that was to blame.

(It broke Annabeth especially to see Silena just _take it_ )

Clarisse yelled right back.

Then everything somehow got _worse_ when Bianca stepped into the room.

Usually, when Bianca stepped in she’d sort out the situation in seconds. Able to calm both sides with words, this time though, it, seemed, was going to be _different_.

“What are you two doing!” Bianca came in. Exclaiming but not yelling.

“ _He_ ,” Clarisse pointed a finger at Leo. “Is being a lying little shit that’s what!”

“Oh! You’re going to stand here and tell me _I’m wrong_ ,” Leo seethed out. “Well yeah! Sure! Take your bullshit to the next level! It wouldn’t be the first time!”

“Leo!” Bianca sounded affronted before she took in a breath and tried to sound calmer. “Leo, you’re angry and taking it out in ways that you’re going to regret later-,”

“Don’t act all high and mighty with me ghost girl!” Leo snapped towards Bianca. “You don’t know shit!”

“Leo please, you need to calm down-,”

“I don’t need to do anything, there’s nothing I need to do. You just tell me that I need to do something and then I do it, because I trusted you!” Leo gestures around. “Well look where that trust has gotten me! A dead brother! Because you thought I didn’t need to know that my family was one of the main bargaining chips in this little fucking game you’ve been playing called our lives!”

Bianca flinched, just a bit, obviously hurt. Annabeth still couldn’t find the words to intervene.

“Well! I hope you had fun!” Leo shook his hands, his voice venomous and sarcastic. “Because nobody else did! I sure didn’t!”

“I’m sorry-,”

“Oh like you’re actually sorry! You don’t care! Do you? Because maybe if you cared enough to listen to other people, and not think of yourself as fucking omnipient, then you wouldn’t have died in the junkyard!” Leo shouted. “But no! You died and you still can’t even learn the lesson from your death! And now because of that my brother is dead!”

Annabeth couldn’t find the words, but she could damn well find her actions.

She grabbed Leo, dragging him out of the room and away from everyone. Not knowing for a second where she was going, all that she knew was it would be away.

0-0-0

Bianca should’ve done better. Because Leo was right on one thing, she didn’t listen and so she kept on learning the same lesson over and over.

Trust.

Bianca clutched her mouth and sobbed. Barely feeling when Piper came beside her and held her close.

She really was an asshole wasn’t she?

0-0-0

_You fucking little ass Leo how could you say that. You’ve really done it now, you and your big mouth, but now instead saying something stupid, it was something downright unredeemable._

Leo was dragged through the halls of Olympus by Annabeth. Both in complete silence.

_You could’ve just stayed silent, but nooo! Let’s attack the vulnerable girl for making a mistake that anyone could’ve made because you couldn’t accept it was your fault!_

Leo.

_Then you couldn’t just stop there, you had to yell at Bianca too! Blame her when when she’s only trying to stop things from getting worse!_

Leo.

_What’s next? Fuck up the space time continuum, not like you could really screw up further than this you fucking little asshole piece OF SHI-._

“Leo!”

Annabeth's voice snapped through the noise in his head like a rubber band. Some part of Leo wished he’d taken his ADHD meds today, the other part recognised he wouldn’t be alive if he had.

“You’re burning,”

“Did I hurt you?” Leo immediately asked. 

“No,” Annabeth answered, seeing Leo’s panic and giving him immediate release. “No,”

They stood in silence, in a room Leo didn’t know, with only Annabeth being there to judge. Leo was the first to break it, being unable to keep himself from breaking.

“Fuck,” Leo whispered. “Fuck I just… I… I didn’t mean-,”

Annabeth wasn’t mad, she looked at him with a sympathy. Of someone who’s made the same mistakes before. “Grief and anger make you say a lot of things you don’t mean, right?”

Leo stayed silent, wallowing in his shame, but he couldn’t go back in there and apologise. Not immediately after _that_.

“I-I just,” He was still mad, more at himself though now.

“Leo,” Annabeth cut in. “I think we all need some time to grieve,”

He nodded.

“Go back to camp and take as much time as you need, then apologies once you’re ready,” Annabeth advised.

Leo nodded again, too tired to say anything else that he knew he’d just stutter over.

0-0-0

Percy didn’t expect his day to end back at camp, with Nico and Will watching Rachel take the new oracle mantle, but at this point he wasn’t even surprised.

Backing up a bit, he’d come down to see his mum and Paul, promising them that Bianca would be down eventually, only to see Will and Nico rush towards him, hurriedly explaining how they had been walking down the street when they saw Rachel take off with Blackjack.

Which.

 _Nobody_ took his horse, not even his friends.

So he’d run after her, only to find her surrounded by green mist and talking to Will’s dad, and talking about prophecies and the future. He was scared that Rachel could die, yes, but watching one of his close friends officially become part of his world, not unexpected.

(Dammit, he was still watching too much the Little mermaid… who was he kidding there was no such thing as too much the Little mermaid)

Percy ran forward and knelt over Rachel. The smell of the attic was gone. The Mist sank into the ground and the green light faded. But Rachel was still pale. She was barely breathing. Then her eyes fluttered open. She focused on him with difficulty. "Percy."

"Are you okay?"

She tried to sit up. "Ow." She pressed her hands to her temples. 

"Rachel," Nico said, "your life aura almost faded completely. I could see you dying." 

"I'm all right," she murmured. "Please, help me up. The visions—they're a little disorienting."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Percy asked.

Apollo drifted down from the porch. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce the new Oracle of Delphi." 

"You're kidding," Will blinked. It was a little weird seeing Apollo and Will next to each other as Apollo still looked seventeen, so Will just looked like a mini Apollo.

Rachel managed a weak smile. "It's a little surprising to me too, but this is my fate. I saw it when I was in New York. I know why I was born with true sight. I was meant to become the Oracle." 

Percy narrowed his eyes. "You mean you can tell the future now?" 

"Not all the time," she said. "But there are visions, images, words in my mind. When someone asks me a question, I . . . Oh no-,"

"It's starting," Apollo announced. 

Rachel doubled over like someone had punched her. Then she stood up straight and her eyes glowed serpent green. When she spoke, her voice sounded tripled—like three Rachels were talking at once: 

" _Eight half-bloods shall answer the call._

_To storm or fire, the world must fall._

_An oath to keep with a final breath,_

_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death_." 

At the last word, Rachel collapsed. Nico and Will caught her and helped her to the porch. Her skin was feverish. 

"I'm all right," she said, her voice returning to normal.

Will looked her over, before giving her one of his energy gums, some part of Percy was surprised the kid still had those given that he’d eaten the whole pack in his Achilles curse fighting.

"No," Apollo mused. "The spirit will only speak through you occasionally. The rest of the time, our Rachel will be much as she's always been. There's no point in grilling her, even if she has just issued the next big prediction for the future of the world." 

"What?" Percy said. "But—" 

"Percy," Apollo said, "I wouldn't worry too much. The last Great Prophecy about you took almost seventy years to complete. This one may not even happen in your lifetime." 

Percy thought about the lines Rachel had spoken in that creepy voice: about storm and fire and the Doors of Death. 

"Maybe," he said, "but it didn't sound so good." 

"No," said Apollo cheerfully. "It certainly didn't. She's going to make a wonderful Oracle!"

Rachel and Apollo began to explain the rules of being an oracle and what was going to happen to her, from where she could be staying, to whether she could date. Apollo was more that happy to explain. “Unlike my little sis, the concept of virginity for oracles just means you aren’t allowed to marry, you’re still allowed to have sex or start relationships,”

Rachel nodded knowingly, looking a bit better due to Will’s assistance but definitely still delirious to some degree. “So just like any gay relationship,” She shook her head, obviously disappointed, not with her predicament, but with the world. 

Nico sort of just… well he didn’t flinch but he did snap more focus into the conversation.

Apollo scowled. “Oh don’t remind me about that, Hera still won’t budge,” He muttered a few ancient Greek curses before his eyes caught his son. Instantly his smile brightened, he came up towards Will and picked him up, spinning him around in a hug. “Speaking about relationships, Will, I’m so proud! Your first boyfriend!”

Oh. Now this was interesting.

Percy and Rachel both focused on Will’s slightly mortified face.

“Dad-,”

“I mean, you could’ve done better, but as long as you’re happy then happy,” Apollo smiled. “I swear, Aphrodite was having a field day, she’s been crazy about uncle Hades kid’s romances since Bianca,”

Wait.

Percy turned to a brightly blushing Nico, gauging his reaction.

Now, he might be dense, but he wasn’t _that_ dense.

“Dad he hadn’t _come out yet_ -,” Will hissed out. Apollo blinked, staring at the three mortals eavesdropping on the conversation with his son.

“Ah,” He dropped a smile. “Sorry, kid,” He coughed into his hand. "No hard feelings?"

Nico sighed and buried his head into his hands. Whispering small Italian curses. It had been an accident but Nico was still obviously mad.

“Oh my Gods,” Rachel whispered.

Well shit.

“Congratulations,” Percy ruffled Nico’s hair. Trying to not show how much he was screaming internally. Oh my _Gods_ Will was going to be dead by the end of the day. He knew how much Bianca hated Will, the feeling was mutual between them, and to find out the guy was dating her little brother.

Will was _dead_. 6 ft. under. Gone.

Nico swatted Percy’s hand away, he half looked like he wanted to yell but then he calmed down. “Thanks,”

“Does Bianca know?” Rachel tilted her head. “I mean about the preference, if she knew about you and Will-,”

“Yeah,” Will was finally out of his dad's grasp, he cracked his back. Apollo was watching the conversation from the sidelines. “Yeah I know, I’ll lose dick privileges,”

“You’ll _what_?!”

“That doesn’t matter,” Will cut in again. “I’ll be fine, it’ll be fine,” he gulped. “When are we going to tell your sister?”

Nico pursed his lip. “Within the next month, or if she asks,”

Will made a sound that seemed to be him accepting his probably painful death.

0-0-0

Bianca didn’t want to go to camp at the moment, but the dead needed proper burials. They needed to be respected.

“Are you sure?” Piper clarified. “We can always come later,”

“I’m not letting Nico do it alone,” Bianca said with a sigh, before giving Piper a tired smile. She knew her eyes were still red from the tears, she knew she looked _horrible_ , but everybody looked horrible at the moment.

“Leo’s probably going to be there,”

Fuck.

Look. Okay. Bianca just…

She wanted to fix things but she was going to need some time, _Leo_ was going to need some time.

“I can always shadow travel,” Bianca reminded her girlfriend, crossing into camp.

The rest of the day was as strange as the beginning. Campers trickled in from New York by car, Pegasus, and chariot. The wounded were cared for. The dead were given proper funeral rites at the campfire.

They started with Michael's pyre and ended with Beckendorf’s pyre.

(She knew Leo was there for Beckendorf’s, but she wasn’t their, she’d let Nico take over for that funeral)

Dinner at the pavilion was low-key. The only highlight was Juniper the tree nymph, who screamed, "Grover!" and gave her boyfriend a flying tackle hug, making everybody cheer up slightly. They went down to the beach to take a moonlit walk, and Bianca was happy for them, though the scene reminded her of Silena and Beckendorf.

Silena was with Lee at all times now. The two of them never straying far, and everyone left them in piece, knowing how both of them were mourning terribly.

Piper had trailed away to talk to Leo.

Mrs. O'Leary romped around happily, eating everybody's table scraps.

Bianca and Nico now _finally_ had their own table. They’d set it up in around three seconds with the help of the dead and it was the first thing that was all _theirs_. Everybody was patting Nico on the back, complimenting him on his fighting. Hey, show up with an army of undead warriors to save the day, and suddenly you're everybody's best friend.

The dinner crowd trickled away. Bianca and Nico were able to talk inside a comfortable voice by themselves.

“So~,” Bianca tried to brighten the mood and find a distraction. “You _finally_ going to tell me who the mystery boy is?”

Nico coughed and blushed. Looking down at his food. He mumbled something that Bianca couldn’t make out.

“What?”

“It’s… he’s my boyfriend now,” Nico dropped the bombshell quietly.

Bianca smiled at the _one_ bit of good news (she was literally grasping for _anything_ at this point to cheer her up. The mood was so bad, and given the fact she was a mild empath it was literally almost impossible not to feel like dying). “Who?! I need credentials!”

After she said that, her invasiveness and flaws came back to bite her. ‘Don’t do that, you don’t trust his judgement, stop criticizing-,’

She shook her head slightly. “It’s fine! You don’t need to say!”

Nico pursed his lip. “Um… you aren’t going to like it,”

She waved him off, glad that she still wasn’t pushing too far. “As long as it’s not incest, abusive or there is a huge age gap than I’ll probably be fine with it,”

“You won’t kill them! No matter what right?!”

Okay… that was a little concerning.

“Sure, I won’t kill them,” Bianca nodded. Hoping she wouldn’t regret the promise.

Nico looked behind her briefly, before sighing. “It’s Will,”

Bianca regretted those words instantly.

She turned around, her eyes connecting with the back of Will Solace’s blonde head, the boy shivered.

She _really_ regretted those words.

She breathed in and breathed out.

Ha. This was fine.

She breathed in and out again.

“Nico I trust your judgement,” She started. There came that funky little word again. Trust. “I really do, but… him!” She pointed at Will. “I mean, literally _anyone_ else would’ve been better,”

“I’m right here-,” Will stirred.

“Ah!” She held up her finger and glared at Will. “Don’t! I don’t want to hear it, you’re lucky I’m not currently trying to chop off your dick! So shut your mouth,”

Will wisely only glared before going back to eating his cheeseburger.

0-0-0

It seemed that Leo’s only real talent, when all the chips were down and everything was stripped down, was running away.

He looked at the time stamp on his call with Hazel, stared at his phone, a device he and Beckendorf had created. While yes, it was mostly Leo, his brother had still helped finalise everything.

They’d had so many plans for the rest of summer, fixing the golden dragon, different weapons, maybe explore Daedalus’s laptop for more projects, but now all of that was out the window.

Leo pursed his lip. Piper had offered him a place to stay, hers to be specific, and he _did not_ want to mooch off of her…

But he also wanted to get away.

(Get away from New York, get away from his brothers grave and body. It’s just like Houston, he did it once he could do it again)

Guess he was only good at running away.

0-0-0

Will and Nico weren’t the only couple to get together. Given by the fact Percy and Annabeth were soon seen making out in the lake.

0-0-0

Bianca was more in charge of the Hades cabin this time.

Mostly, to her utter _disgustingly apparent array_ , because Nico was doing cute couple things with Will.

Luckily for her though that meant she could do cute couple things with Piper.

They were working in the Artemis cabin for privacy, Bianca working on the design and plan for the cabin, while Piper was inside one of Bianca’s hoodies, snuggled in her girlfriend's lap for perfect cuddling position™.

Bianca kissed her girlfriend's forehead.

There were still a lot of things she was uncertain about now, were her and Leo going to be okay? What to do about the Romans? Could she please just finish high school before she had to deal with whatever was _that_ great prophecy? 

She could figure those things out later. Now, all she needed to do was take a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ONE MORE TO GO!  
> Also... Leo... sweetheart you were literally the reason this took so long to get out! I love drama but I hate conflict! I just want everyone to be happy but that isn't how life works, especially not after that war.  
> (One day... one Day)


	18. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update because I want this done as much as you do baby ;)

Mrs. Beckendorf had made cookies.

This wasn’t something she did on the regular. Only for special occasions.

Such as, when her son was finally bringing home his girlfriend. They’d planned it for a while now, and her little Charlie had called immediately after receiving the get-go.

Her little boy was growing up so fast. One day she’d be waving him goodbye as he went off to college, she’d have to quickly get used to only once a month calls due to how swamped he’d be with schoolwork. She could handle it though.

She’d been raising her little Charlie for all his life, just by herself. She knew she was going to have to let him go soon but not so quickly.

Mrs. Beckendorf blew on the cookies, reminding herself to focus on the here and the now. As they’d be here any-.

The chiming of the doorbell cut off her thoughts.

She hobbled over to the door, excited to great the girl, Silena was it? And her son! She hadn’t seen him in so long! His cheeks needed to be pinched again or else they were going to be stuck in that horrible frown.

She opened the door, expecting to see her son’s towering form, or maybe even the lovely girlfriend Charlie had said so much about.

Instead a fourteen year old girl with freckles and black eyes like a reaper stood before her. Expression solemn, like she’d rather do anything else, but her duty dictated otherwise.

“Mrs. Beckendorf?” The girl had a small Italian hint to her tone. She continued after seeing the woman nod. “I… have news about your son,”

“You… is he okay?!” Mrs. Beckendorf asked frantically.

The girl shook her head.

A mothers heart  _ broke _ .

0-0-0

The clock ticked on the wall. The only thing that was breaking the sickening silence in the small home.

It was usually silent, the walls were soundproof and the people in it were quiet and reclusive. Mrs. Beckendorf had always liked the quiet. She had liked her son talking more though, and now she’d never get to hear it again.

She knew she’d have to let him go, but never like this.

Never this early.

The tray of cookies was in the middle of the table between the two girls. Neither touched it.

“How?” Mrs. Beckendorf’s hand was to her mouth, trying to forcefully stop the tears from falling. “How did…?”

The girl, she’d found out was called Bianca, was only fourteen. Yet, she felt more like the adult then Mrs. Beckendorf by the way her voice didn’t even waver. “You know who his father is, right?”

“Yes, yes I know,”

“Charlie Beckednorf was murdered by the Titan Kronos in…” The girl seemed to be steeling herself for yelling. “In an execution,”

Mrs. Beckendorf choked a sob. He hand flew to her mouth, flingers clawing at the cheek in a desperation of disbelief. Because not  _ her  _ baby.

_ Not her Charlie _ .

“Why? He didn’t…” She had so many things she wanted to say but no words coming out and she didn’t know what to die.

“Beck-... Charlie fought bravely with the rest of his siblings and campers defending Olympus, on the second day of battle, Beckendorf was captured by a group of former campers from Krono’s army, the…” The girl stopped her story slowly, she looked at Mrs. Beckendorf with no pity in the slightest. “The next day he was brought to the battle and executed as an example to all who opposed Kronos,”

Mrs. Beckendorf couldn’t believe it. This was  _ her son _ . Her bright young boy.

He was going to college, that was what she was preparing for. For calls once a month, to only seeing her son at Christmas.

Now she’d never get to see him again.

Tears fell onto the table, the child couldn’t look her in the eye.

“I’m sorry,” She looked to the side, head tilted upwards as if she was listening to something. All Mrs. Beckendorf could hope for was that she was just being polite to not watch a mother break down crying. Bianca didn’t speak, only seemingly listening to something.

“He loved you,”

Mrs. Beckendorf's head snapped upwards.

“He… said he loved you, and that he misses you,” The girl looked as if she was trying to make a reassuring smile but couldn’t quite do it. “He’s going to wait for you, he’s not moving one inch until you’re there with him. But don't rush! He'll wait as long as it takes, so take your time, and know he'll be there once you die,”

Mrs. Beckendorf stumbled over her words. “How… how do you  _ know _ -,”

“The people who love us never truly leave us,” Bianca’s smile was cryptic, her words like a riddle and her voice spoken as if someone who’d been taught this lesson time and time again, but didn’t quite believe it. “Some people are just lucky enough to see it, or unlucky in my case,”

“What’s  _ that  _ supposed to mean!”

“I can see the dead, Mrs. Beckendorf,”

The mother inhaled a sharp breath. 

(She could almost feel his hug. Warm and wrapping around her, reminding her of how  _ big  _ he’d gotten in the time she’d raised him.)

She cried and clutched to her arms. Not noticing how the shadows warped, leaving only one person left in the room visible.

But that does not mean she was alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m DONE! YEAH BABY! I’ll be taking a sort of break, mostly because I still need to deal with my rewrite of the third story, but other than that my mental health is practically begging me not to install another story, so don’t expect one anytime soon.  
> (If I DO release one soon though it will absolutely be a one-shot)  
> Anyway, please comment if you enjoyed the story! Because I really do hope the ending was good :)  
> Have a good day! Drink some water, go to bed, eat some food and take in a deep breath! I’ll see you next time!


End file.
